The Church in Babylon Again
BECAUSE the people of God in olden time refused to hearken to the instruction of his Word, and the special messages which he sent to them through his prophets, and because they failed to co-operate with his purpose concerning them that they should be witnesses for the true God in all the earth, the Lord permitted them to reap the result of their doings, and they became captives in Babylon. Of this experience Daniel writes: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand.” The record of the later experience under Zedekiah is thus written: “Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of Jehovah which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And Jehovah, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Jehovah arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or virgin, old man or hoary-headed: he gave them all into his hand.” Then the people of God went down into Babylon the first time. The cause is definitely stated in these words: “And Judah was carried away captive to Babylon for their transgression.” In “the falling away” and the fulfilment of the prophecies concerning Daniel’s little horn, Paul’s man of sin, and John’s beast from the sea, we have the parallel of this experience of going down into Babylon. The name written upon the forehead of the woman whom John saw “sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast,” was “Babylon the great.” In the book of Daniel, where this same power is the subject of prophecy, it is distinctly stated that the people of God would again be given into the hand of Babylon for the very same reason as in the time of Daniel. Note carefully these two quotations from the prophecies: “And he [the little horn] shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.” Dan. 7: 25. “Yea, it [the little horn] magnified itself, even to the prince of the host [Joshua’s “captain of the host of the Lord”—Joshua 5: 14]; and it took away from him the continual burnt-offering [service], and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt-offering [service] through transgression.” Dan. 8:11, 12. When these prophecies were fulfilled, the people of God went down into Babylon the second time. The apostasy of the people of God anciently was marked by a desire to be like the nations around them, and to adopt their customs. The result of this was that “they did evil more than did the nations whom Jehovah destroyed before the children of Israel.” This is in harmony with the words of Jesus, “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” So it was in the later apostasy. “Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into the Christian church. The spirit of compromise4and conformity was restrained for a time by the fierce persecutions which the church endured under paganism. But as persecution ceased, and Christianity entered the courts and palaces of kings, she laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ and his apostles, for the pomp and pride of pagan priests and rulers; and in place of the requirements of God, she substituted human theories and traditions. The nominal conversion of Constantine, in the early part of the fourth century, caused great rejoicing; the church and the world, cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Now the work of corruption rapidly progressed. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished, became the conqueror. Her spirit controlled the church. Her doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ. This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of ‘the man of sin’ foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. That gigantic system of false religion is a masterpiece of Satan’s power,—a monument of his efforts to seat himself upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will.” And thus did the church “through transgression” come under the rule of the great leader of rebellion and confusion, the real king of Babylon. Thus was the church again in Babylon. It is interesting to note in this connection that in his famous book, “The Babylonish Captivity of the Church,” published in 1520, Luther said, “I know that the papacy is none other than the kingdom of Babylon, and the violence of Nimrod the mighty hunter.” The people of God were given over into the hand of the king of Babylon in both ancient and modern times because of their departure from the true faith. They turned aside from personal trust in the promised Deliverer, in whom alone is the defense against sin and Satan, and for the simplicity of the gospel they substituted the superstitions and the forms of heathenism. When they persisted in this course “till there was no remedy,” the Lord permitted them to go under the power of Babylon, that under the discipline of trial and persecution they might learn the lesson of the truth as it is in Jesus. And in both experiences in Babylon there have been some faithful witnesses to the truth who have preserved and taught the gospel of the coming of the Seed.