THE WINE OF BABYLON IN THE VESSELS FROM THE HOUSE OF THE LORD.
By W. W. P.
With the death of Nebuchadnezzar the greatness of Babylon began to wane, and at the end of only a quarter of a century the armies of Medo-Persia under Cyrus were before the city. Foreseeing this rapid decline of Babylon’s glory, the God of heaven had said through the prophet Jeremiah, “And all nations shall serve him [Nebuchadnezzar], and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.” The history of Babylon under the immediate successors of Nebuchadnezzar plainly shows to what an extent the character of the king determines the greatness and the permanency of the dominion. Although it had been revealed in the experiences of Nebuchadnezzar that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will,” and that he is “the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment,” and these great truths had been proclaimed to all the world, so that all men “might put their confidence in God, and not forget God’s doings, and keep his commands,” yet “they soon forgat his works.” The gospel of the kingdom, which had been made known to Nebuchadnezzar in the great threefold experience of the dream of the image, the deliverance of the three Hebrews from the furnace, and the dream of the tree, had been declared to all by a royal proclamation, and thus the lesson was just as personal as if each one had passed through the experiences for himself. But the message had been disregarded, and the living God had not been glorified, and now the armies of the conqueror were at the gates. It is no wonder that Belshazzar the king regarded the city of Babylon as impregnable. Its wall was about three hundred and fifty feet high, and about eighty-five feet thick at the top. There were one hundred gates “of solid brass, with brazen lintels and posts, and fastened with bars of iron.” The river Euphrates flowed diagonally through the city, with strong walls built on each bank. A good proportion of the land inclosed within the walls was cultivated, so that it was able to produce enough to supply the actual needs of the people in the city. Thus with gates closed the inhabitants could endure a siege of indefinite duration. But the sequel showed that walls lofty and thick, and gates of brass, are no protection against the enemy, when the men within the walls and gates refuse the God of heaven as their Rock and their Fortress. “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” In order to show his utter contempt for the besieging army, and his perfect confidence in the protection afforded by the walls and gates and the resources of Babylon, Belshazzar the king determined to celebrate with unusual abandon the annual feast of the god Tammuz. “Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.” What a picture of reckless and impious debauchery is here given! Wives, concubines, princes, and a thousand lords all joined in drunkenness and licentious revelry, led on by the king himself, while a powerful and determined foe were besieging the city. And not only was the enemy outside the walls thus mocked at, but the “King of heaven” was himself insulted in the most studied and public manner by the king of Babylon. The wine of Babylon was drunk in the vessels from the temple of the true God as an act of worship of the idols, and praise was given at the same time to the gods which were “graven by art and man’s device.” It was a public and formal repudiation on the part of Belshazzar the king, of that gospel of the kingdom which had been received and proclaimed by his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar. Under the influence of the same messages, the one glorified him that liveth forever, while the other praised the work of men’s hands. As an inevitable consequence, one was established in his kingdom, the other lost both his life and his kingdom. Each one made his choice, and the result indicated the nature of the choice. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” From our study as to what the Lord includes under the name of Babylon, we are prepared to see that this account of the fall of Babylon is both a history and a prophecy, and that in the circumstances and causes which led to the fall of Babylon of the Chaldees is to be found a prophecy of the circumstances and the causes which lead to the fall of Babylon in our own time. We ought therefore to study in this connection some of the scriptures which deal with these things. Of the woman described in the seventeenth chapter of Revelation, upon whose forehead was the name “Babylon the great,” it is said that “the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” Verse 2. And the message of the second of the three angels, who has “the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,” to prepare a people for the coming of the Son of man, is given in these words: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, which hath made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Rev. 14:8, R. V. The connection between these statements and the account of the idolatrous feast of Belshazzar and the fall of Babylon is certainly very clear. It was “whiles he tasted the wine,” or “through the counsel of the wine,” that Belshazzar gave the command to use the vessels from the house of God in the worship of the idols. Thus the vessels were from the city of God, having been made according to the Lord’s own instruction to be used in his worship, but in them was put the wine of Babylon, and as a result of this “confusion” of Jerusalem and Babylon the praise which was due to the living God was given to the false gods. But these idols were “the work of men’s hands,” the visible expression of their own ideas, and were therefore simply a deification of their own thoughts concerning religion, which they put in the place of the revelation which the high God had made of himself and the gospel of his kingdom in his dealing with Nebuchadnezzar. Thus in rejecting the gospel of the kingdom and the authority of the Most High, and in teaching the heathen rites, Belshazzar was exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, and was blinding the minds of all the people to the true teaching of the kingship of God. This same thing has been done during all the centuries since the time of Belshazzar, by those who have either openly rejected the true God, or else have set aside the revelation which he has made of himself and his will concerning man’s relationship to him, the laws of his kingdom, and have substituted their own ideas of God, and their own ideas as to how he should be worshiped, and their own interpretation of his law, even when professing to be his loyal servants. Thus it was in the time of Jesus, and of such he said: “Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men.” To his people the Lord says, “I am married unto you,” and, “Thy Maker is thine husband.” Therefore when they leave him, and refuse to live any longer in right relationship with him, he speaks of such conduct as fornication or adultery; and to lead his people into such a departure from him is to cause them to commit fornication. When the church as a whole has thus separated from God, it is no longer regarded as a “chaste virgin,” but as an impure woman, a harlot. And so the papacy, which claims to be the only true church, but which has in reality put man in the place of God, and the traditions of men in the place of the commandments of God, is represented under this symbol in the seventeenth chapter of Revelation. The influence of the example and teaching of the papacy in leading others to depart from obedience to the commandments of the true God is set forth in these words: “They that dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication;” “which did corrupt the earth with her fornication;” “which hath made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Rev. 17:2; 19:2; 14:8, R. V. In the great Reformation of the sixteenth century there was a coming out from this apostate church with “the Bible only” as the watchword, and justification by faith as the platform. Those who thus received the true gospel of the kingdom protested against the complete substitution of the human for the divine in all the worship and service of God, and so were called “protestants.” Had the reform which was thus begun been consistently carried forward, it would have led to a complete return to the beliefs and experiences of the early Christian church, and a people would thus have been made ready for the coming of the Lord. But in the course of time the movement became crystallized around the reforms introduced by the leaders in this great work, and no further progress was made. And so another movement was necessary to reform the reformers, and to do the work which they might have done in preparing a people for the coming of the Lord. Thus was inaugurated in 1830-40 the great advent message which is still being proclaimed, which is simply an appeal for the acceptance of the word of God as it reads, a dis-347 carding of all the traditions of men, and a living faith in the fullness of the experience of justification by faith in Jesus Christ. But alas! the successors of the reformers of the sixteenth century as a body rejected the message, clung to the traditions of the past, and became “protestants” only in name. They drank of the wine of her fornication, and while separated in name, they really went over in principle to the ground held so long by the papacy, “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,” depending upon the past history of the church and upon the names of men whom God had used in the commencement of the work of reform. This has resulted in greatly increased worldliness in the church, in a loss of the old-time power, and in a general failure to recognize and to embrace the opportunity offered to preach this gospel of the kingdom. And thus have the names and the forms of the house of God been used in professedly maintaining the principles of the kingdom, but in reality in exalting man above God, in substituting the traditions of men for the plain teaching of the word of God. All this is acted out before us in the record of Belshazzar’s feast. In the cups from the Lord’s house was the wine of Babylon drunk, and under its influence the creations of the minds of men were put in the place of the Creator of all things, and right principles became “confused.” Thus because of the fall of the men in Babylon the way was prepared for the fall of Babylon, and that too, during a time of feasting and drunkenness. In our day this prophetic history is being repeated. The enemy of God and man is come down “having great wrath,” and “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour,” but instead of watching unto prayer, many are given over to “surfeiting and drunkenness,” the wine of Babylon is drunk even in the cup of the Lord, and the true God, the King of heaven, is not glorified. And even now the darkness of the last night of the feasting is settling down upon the inhabitants of the world. Who will give the true gospel message? Who will cry, “Behold your God!”
W. W. P.