The Message Which Will Deliver from Babylon
The fall of Babylon and the cause of its fall were foretold by the prophets. Thus said Isaiah: “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. . . . Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.” “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.” And so Jeremiah said: “Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. . . . Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord.” “I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord. . . . Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up.” Although the fall of Babylon as a kingdom had been thus definitely foretold, yet the gospel of the kingdom of God—righteousness by faith—was preached in Babylon so that all who would accept it might be saved from the impending destruction. Daniel and his companions were chosen to proclaim this saving truth in that proud city, and through their threefold message (Dan. 2, 3, and 4) Nebuchadnezzar the king was converted and bore this testimony: “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” That the genuine message of justification by faith had been proclaimed in Babylon, and that it had had its designed effect upon the heart of Nebuchadnezzar, is made clear by comparing his testimony with the definition of justification by faith as given through the spirit of prophecy, as follows: “What is justification by faith?—It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, and doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself.” This is not the theological definition, but it sets forth the actual experience. Pride, the glorification of man, is the very essence of righteousness by works, but no one can in this way make himself acceptable to God. “His soul which is lifted up is not upright in him.” Justification by faith is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust; “those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” The true gospel of the kingdom is the gospel of righteousness by faith, and this gospel was preached in Babylon. There was sufficient power in the threefold message proclaimed by Daniel and his companions to save Babylon. “We would have healed Babylon, but4she is not healed.” It was the failure to give heed to this message which was the direct cause of the fall of Babylon. This is shown by what Daniel said to Belshazzar on that memorable night when he interpreted the handwriting on the wall: “O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honor: and for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: and he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.” Such a message was sent to Nebuchadnezzar that he was led to humble himself before the God of heaven, although “his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride,” and the knowledge of his experience placed Belshazzar under the same obligation to humble his own heart, but he rejected the gospel message and lifted up himself against the Lord of heaven, and used the vessels from the Lord’s house in which to drink the wine of Babylon, and gave praise to the gods of Babylon instead of glorifying the God who gave him life. In doing this Belshazzar filled to the full the cup of Babylon’s iniquity, and there was no longer any hope, and so he lost that very night both his life and his kingdom. He who would not humble his heart was humbled by the judgment of God; but Daniel, the preacher and the type of righteousness by faith, survived the destruction of Babylon. Thus the answer given to the prophet Habakkuk was wrought into history: “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” We have now found the essence of the sin of ancient Babylon, and the nature of the message which was proclaimed in Babylon to save from her destruction all who would give heed to it. The only effective antidote for the pride of the human heart is the message of righteousness by faith—that message whose result is seen in laying the glory of man in the dust, and in doing for him a work which he can not do for himself; and this was the message which the Lord sent to Babylon before he gave it over to destruction. This prophetic history is now being fulfilled. In modern Babylon the word of God is being set aside, and the pride of human opinion is being substituted for a “Thus saith the Lord.” The conclusions of a false science are accepted in place of the divine revelation, while the terms and forms and ceremonies of Christianity are made the channels for expressing the false gospel, just as in Babylon of Chaldea they used the vessels from the Lord’s temple in which to drink the wine of Babylon. To meet this situation and to gather a people out of Babylon who shall acknowledge the true God by keeping his commandments, the God of heaven has sent a threefold message, saying, “All flesh is grass . . . behold your God!” “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” In the closing days of this message there is joined with it the call to come out of Babylon, and the same gospel truth must therefore be emphasized which was announced to the prophet Habakkuk and was proclaimed in Babylon: “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” The message of justification by faith must now be preached in all the world, inasmuch as the teaching of Babylon has spread to all the world, and the call to come out of Babylon will prepare a people to hear the call, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” This outline study of the historical setting of the message of justification by faith as the message of deliverance from Babylon may help some to see that the everlasting gospel which is to be preached to this generation is the very message which was preached by Daniel and his companions, adapted to the special conditions of this time, and may therefore emphasize the need of studying the book of Daniel as containing the very essence of the third angel’s message, not set forth as a theological dogma, but revealed in actual experience. It is by no mere chance that the books of Daniel and the Revelation have shaped the teaching in this advent movement and more and more will they be a treasure-house of truth to those who are giving the genuine message for this time.