Revelation 18:4, commentary and pictures

Another voice from heaven summons God's faithful people who are still inside Babylon to come out before her judgments fall, so they do not share in her sins and do not receive her plagues. That Babylon which has fallen is the corrupt and apostate religious world of the last days, including Rome and the Protestant churches that rejected the first, second and third angels' messages, copied Rome, clung to false doctrines and traditions, and became confused and divided. God still has many sincere, God-fearing, truth-hungry people inside those fallen churches who have not bowed to Baal, and when the Sabbath is proclaimed more fully they will recognize the truth, break family and church ties, and unite with His commandment-keeping people amid persecution. The call joins the third angel's message and swells it into the loud cry lightening the earth with glory, as the last message of mercy and the final test over worship, to keep God's seventh-day Sabbath as His seal rather than the spurious rival sabbath enforced by united church and state power. It does not call God's people out of the people He made repositories of His law who keep His commandments, and any use of it to denounce the Seventh-day Adventist Church as Babylon the harlot is spurious and false and has not been sent by God.

Voice and Wording

Another voice from heaven summons God's faithful people who are still in Babylon to come out of her before her judgments fall, so that they do not share in her sins and do not receive her plagues. The call accompanies a renewed announcement of Babylon's fall that exposes the corruptions which have entered religious organizations since the second angel's message was first given in 1844. It forms part of the final warning to the world, joining the third angel's message as that message swells into the loud cry, including the powerful final warning against the beast and its image. Babylon here is identified with churches that reject the warnings of the first, second, and third angels' messages, refuse the truth, and accept a lie. The punishment comes because her sins have reached to heaven and God has remembered her wrongs.

Her means the churches, and the command to come out of her commands leaving the churches so as not to be defiled by partaking of their sins and receiving of their plagues. My people means God's distinct and separate people who refuse to worship the beast or his image and who bear His sign by keeping His Sabbath and His commandments. That voice follows the messages of the first, second, and third angels of Revelation 14 and follows the coming down of another angel with great power who lightens the earth with his glory and cries that Babylon is fallen. It belongs to the last message of mercy that must go to all inhabitants of the world before the Lord soon comes, calling for means to be invested in that work, and before God sends judgments for disobedience after watchmen give warning. The verse has been applied incorrectly, and that wrong application causes confusion.

The call stands in Revelation 18:1-8, where Babylon the great is fallen and become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities, so separation from her is urgent. She is to be rewarded even as she rewarded others and doubled according to her works, with twice as much poured into the cup she filled. Torment and sorrow match her self-glorification and luxurious living and her proud claim to sit as a queen who will see no sorrow.

Therefore her plagues of death and mourning and famine come in one day and she is utterly burned with fire by the strong Lord God who judges her. This will be fulfilled in the coming crisis of God's retributive judgments on those who continued in sin against great light, when flattering monuments of human greatness are crumbled in dust, costly fireproof buildings become ashes as Sodom perished in flames of vengeance, and costly ships with gold and treasure sink, burying human pride gained by fraud while God avenges the oppressed. Its fulfillment stands on the eve of accomplishment as the greatest work the world has ever witnessed, when angels bear the message on behalf of God's commandment-keeping people. The verse belongs to the message of Revelation 18:1-2 that contains the great test for the people.

It is to be given with a solemn sense of its importance and not in an indifferent manner, so it can do its special work, with spiritual interests given a larger place and the conversion of souls considered of greatest importance. The call is to be sounded now, just now, with a strong voice and no whispered tones. It is to be given in harmony with the first, second, and third angels' messages to show people where they stand, nothing must be allowed to dim the light of the third angel's message, and its work lightens the earth with glory.

Identity of Babylon

Babylon that has fallen is the churches that would not receive the warnings given in the first, second, and third angels' messages, that refused the messages of truth, refused the truth and accepted a lie. The message is plain and clearly defined, so that anyone who reads the chapter need not be deceived. The call to come out so as not to share in her sins or receive her plagues belongs to the proclamation of Babylon's fall and is to be proclaimed a second time, again, as the second of two distinct calls to the churches. It does not identify God's commandment-keeping people made repositories of His law as Babylon. In the future time of great and decisive actions when the so-called Christian world is the theater, men in authority will enact laws controlling conscience after the example of the Papacy, and Babylon will make all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, with every nation involved.

Babylon is not limited to Rome but also includes Protestant churches that became corrupt by copying Rome, seeking worldly power and favor, clinging to false doctrines and traditions, sacrificing truth and God's approval, following its example of alliance with the world, and dividing into conflicting sects. Their confusion and division despite profession of the Bible fits the name Babylon. Separation from Rome may be incomplete, for churches that separated from Rome can still retain Rome's errors and worldly practices and thus have not fully come out of Babylon. At the proclamation of the first angel's message God's people were in Babylon, and many true Christians remain in its communion, some longing for clearer light because they do not see Christ's image in their churches. When the churches depart further from truth and ally more closely with the world, when love of the world replaces love for God and His Word, the light of truth will reach open hearts, they will heed the call and can no longer remain connected with those churches, leaving to accept truths preparing them for Christ's second coming amid returning persecution and a counterfeit revival requiring discernment between true primitive godliness through the Spirit's outpouring and deception.

Babylon is the deluded religious world, fallen and become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. It is the corrupt and apostate religious world of the last days that reigns over the kings of the earth, over whom all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Her sins have reached unto heaven and God has remembered her iniquities, so separation is urgent before destruction. Fallen from high estate, mystic Babylon has become a persecuting power whose wicked character and seductive influence were shown under different symbols, whose wrath is aimed at those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus, and whose apostasy is associated with oppressive religious power seeking to control conscience and restrict freedom to worship God.

Her sins to avoid partaking are the wine of Babylon, spiritual unfaithfulness to God and trampling on His commandments, false doctrines, and rejection of the truth, which convert a church into Babylon where kings, merchants, rulers, and religious teachers are all in corrupt harmony. Chief among them is exalting the false and spurious Sabbath above the Sabbath which the Lord Jehovah blessed and sanctified for the use of man, the spurious rival sabbath presented by the man of sin who thought to change times and laws and exalted himself above God by removing God's memorial, which the Christian world has accepted, cradled and nourished in defiance of God. The call is therefore to leave Babylon in order to keep God's Sabbath and to refuse worship of the beast and his image, just as God called Israel out of Egypt that they might keep His Sabbath, and must be proclaimed boldly and powerfully without weakening its truth. Also included is the natural immortality of the soul. It is people, not the buildings where they worship, who commit the sins that defile them.

People Called Out

God still has many sincere, God-fearing people inside the fallen churches, thousands who have not bowed the knee to Baal. They are honest in heart, hungering for light and gasping for a breath of life from heaven, who will recognize the gospel when it is brought to them in the beauty and simplicity with which it is presented in God's Word. Many of them are in the Protestant churches and a large number are in the Catholic church, obeying the light they have more faithfully than many Sabbathkeepers who do not walk in the light, yet left without a true shepherd because their shepherds feed themselves instead of feeding the flock and kill those that are fed instead of reforming them, so they have not had a fair chance. Before the plagues are poured out they are to be called to leave those churches, for ministers and members among nominal Adventists and other fallen churches will gladly accept the truth, and though Satan will stir religious excitement to make people think God is still working through the churches, the light will shine and all who are honest will leave and take their stand with the remnant. Because they are there, the message to come out that they be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues must be borne with power under the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and God will add to the ranks of His people men of ability and influence to act their part in warning the world.

The call reaches those of God's children who have not yet seen or accepted the Sabbath light but have not rejected it. When the Sabbath is proclaimed more fully at the beginning of the time of trouble by the power of the Holy Spirit, they recognize the truth, leave falsehood, and return to their allegiance to God. False teachings are to be clearly exposed from Scripture so humble people can hear and understand, for those who accepted error are not condemned for failing to return before the truth was made plain to them, but if they reject clear scriptural evidence they become vulnerable to self-deception. Those who hear and return are accepted as they unite with His church and defend the truth, coming out to join those who keep the Sabbath and enduring persecution with them amid judgments and great confusion which the wicked blame on the Sabbathkeepers and plot to rid the earth of them, while churches and nominal Adventists enraged by the proclamation cannot refute the Sabbath truth.

Those who heed must break free from the ties keeping them in Babylon, with family connections and church relations not allowed to prevent obedience, separating rather than remaining where the light of God's messages has been rejected. The call reaches people restrained by family members from hearing the truth, who when they hear it eagerly accept it, take hold of it, lose their fear of relatives, and value the truth above life. This change comes through the latter rain, the refreshing from the Lord's presence, and the loud cry of the third angel proclaimed with great power. Those who come out from the churches and take their stand on the platform of eternal truth need a simple house of worship where they can assemble.

Leaving follows the pattern of the exiles who fled ancient Babylon and returned to the promised land, for those who withdraw from spiritual Babylon will become trophies of divine grace in the earth made new, the heavenly Canaan. It parallels God calling Israel out of Egypt that they might keep His Sabbath, so now He calls His people out of Babylon that they may not worship the beast and his image but keep God's Sabbath instead of the spurious rival sabbath presented by the man of sin who thought to change times and laws and exalted himself above God by removing God's memorial, which the Christian world has accepted, cradled and nourished in defiance of God. Like Christ cleansing the temple at the beginning of His public ministry and again in almost the last act of His ministry, it is the second of two distinct calls to the churches in the last warning work, following the second angel's message, given because her sins have reached unto heaven and God has remembered her iniquities. It draws a clear line between God's commandment-keeping people and the worshipers of false gods, requiring a marked separation from sin and sinners as in the days of Noah and Lot, with no compromise between God and the world and no turning back to secure earthly treasures, to be given before the destruction of the corrupt and apostate religious world of the last days that reigns over the kings of the earth.

Prophetic Timing

The call is still future and belongs to the last days, to be given before the plagues are poured out and before the final destruction comes. Honest people still in the fallen churches will heed it when the light of truth reaches hearts open to receive it, while those who reject truth are left to believe a lie. It commands separation from communion with the churches called her, so as not to be defiled by them, to share in their sins, or to suffer their plagues. Those plagues come after Jesus leaves the sanctuary as the wrath of God and the Lamb bringing destruction and death upon the wicked. Babylon here includes religious bodies once pure but become corrupt, clinging to doctrines and traditions, sacrificing truth and God's approval, following the example of alliance with the world, and fitting the name Babylon by confusion and division despite profession of the Bible, so the call reaches many followers of Christ in the Protestant churches.

It is a renewed announcement of Babylon's fall that exposes corruptions entering religious organizations since the second angel's message was first given in 1844, forming part of the final warning to the world. It is the second of two distinct calls to the churches in the last warning work, following the second angel's message, paralleling Christ cleansing the temple at the beginning and again near the end of His ministry. The first cry led Advent believers to leave the churches before the tenth day of the seventh month in 1844, and the third angel then warned not to return to receive the marks left behind. As an added message it joins the third angel's message, as the midnight cry joined the second angel's message in 1844, calling God's people to escape Babylon's coming doom because her sins have reached unto heaven and God has remembered her iniquities. Like God calling Israel out of Egypt that they might keep His Sabbath, it calls God's people out of Babylon to keep God's Sabbath and memorial instead of the spurious rival sabbath, refusing worship of the beast and his image. That rival was presented by the man of sin who thought to change times and laws and exalted himself above God by removing God's memorial, and the Christian world has accepted, cradled and nourished this child of the papacy in defiance of God.

It is given after truth has been proclaimed as a witness to all nations, when every power of evil is active, minds are confused by many false voices claiming light, landmarks are removed, the false sabbath is exalted and enforced by oppressive law to cast contempt on God and obliterate knowledge of Him, and Satan works with lying wonders while the mighty angel lightens the earth with his glory. Repeating the substance of the second angel's message through another angel who lightens the earth with his glory, it blends with the third angel's message into one united message for the closing days of earth's history. It is the last message of mercy and the very last call to the churches, a final message of warning now to be given and to be given more fully, containing testing truths for this time that many have not yet heard. It brings a test to the whole world and enlightens all in darkness and error about the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and its truths with those of Revelation 18 and 19 should be read and understood by all. It stands now while Revelation 12 to 18 is being fulfilled, just before the beast and false prophet are taken to be cast into the lake of fire, the dragon who instigated rebellion against heaven is bound in the bottomless pit a thousand years, the wicked are raised and Satan and all the wicked are finally destroyed, and Christ triumphs and reigns on this earth.

Its words are to be fulfilled and its events are to take place in the near future, soon and suddenly as a thief in the night, with signs fulfilling, the testing time upon us, and a crisis marking the time. It is to be proclaimed distinctly now, just now, with a strong voice and no whispered, tame, unimpressive or indistinct tones, with power together with the Sabbath truth as the great testing truth for this time and as part of the third angel's message, before cities of the South, in cities, at camp-meetings and at every opportunity, to show people where they stand and let nothing dim the light of the third angel's message whose work lightens the earth with glory. It is the loud cry proclaimed at the threshold of great solemn last-day events when prophecies come to a point, during a brief lull while angels hold the four winds before the unprecedented storm, when nations are in confusion, kingdoms are shaken and the end is near. God in mercy shows long forbearance and holds back His judgments while waiting for this warning to go forth, and those convicted by the Word will take their stand under Christ's banner and face a final test with prompt decisions. It comes after the churches make void the law of God and after church and state unite to restrict religious liberty and take up universally the institution of the man of sin, the heathen day of worship called Christian, in preference to God's holy sanctified day, and after the great secession in which world and church unite to tear down God's moral standard and erect the man of sin's standard while earnest and distinguished men blinded by false doctrines drink deeply of Babylon's wine into superstition and apostasy.

It will be fulfilled in the coming crisis when God's retributive judgments fall on those who continued in sin against great light, in selfishness, pride, fraud and oppression of widows and orphans who cry to Him for help. Because her sins reached heaven and God remembered her iniquities, she is rewarded double according to her works, with torment and sorrow matching her self-glorification and luxurious living and her proud claim to sit as a queen who will see no sorrow, and her plagues of death and mourning and famine come in one day and she is utterly burned with fire by the strong Lord God who judges her. Costly buildings supposed to be fireproof will become ashes as Sodom perished in the flames of vengeance, expensive vessels with gold and silver and treasure and human freight will sink into a watery grave, man's pride gained by fraud will be buried with fraudulently accumulated treasure, and flattering monuments of men's greatness will crumble in dust even before the last great destruction, bringing sorrow no human balm can heal. The whole chapter will be fulfilled when the Lord shall arise to shake terribly the earth, when terrible scenes will take place and great and massive structures will be thrown down by the turning and overturning of God's power, so that one word from the Lord and one touch of His mighty power brings a fall whose fearfulness cannot be imagined, and destruction is in the world. The terrible judgment that fell upon San Francisco is similar to the events of that coming day of wrath for present wickedness and disobedience to God's law, carrying a message for those connected with Seventh-day Adventists and for the churches, warning of dangers and calling to obey God's law and to turn from evil and heed the light before judgment comes.

Angel Messages Combined

The call joins the third angel's message and swells it into the loud cry, as another angel comes down with great power and lightens the earth with glory. It accompanies the renewed announcement that Babylon is fallen, exposing the corruptions that entered religious organizations since the second angel's message was first given in 1844, and it forms the powerful final warning against the beast and its image. It repeats the first and second angels through the third, with their power joined to the first and second and concentrated in the third, and it is to be given with boldness and power as a life-and-death matter with no toning down or muffling of truth. It is proclaimed with the second united to the third in large and small cities to prepare a people for the King.

It comes after the truth has been proclaimed as a witness to all nations, when every power of evil is set in operation. At that time minds are confused by many false voices claiming light and a message from God, crying Lo here is Christ and lo he is there, landmarks are removed and the pillars of faith are attacked. A more decided effort is made to exalt the false sabbath by supplanting the day God blessed and sanctified, and to enforce it by oppressive law, casting contempt upon God Himself and seeking to obliterate the knowledge of Him. Satan and his angels work wide-awake and intensely active through human instrumentalities with lying wonders, while the mighty angel that lightens the earth with glory proclaims the fall of Babylon and calls God's people to forsake her.

Attended by the Holy Spirit it brings the long-prayed-for heavenly endowment in large measure, producing a Pentecost-like ingathering where thousands are converted in a day. The latter rain refreshes as the refreshing from the Lord's presence, the light of present truth spreads throughout the earth, faces shine with heaven's light, and Christ is powerfully revealed and exalted to bring many who were deceived to faith and prepare God's people for the final conflict. Honest souls who had been restrained by family members from hearing the truth hear it and eagerly take hold of it, losing fear of relatives and valuing truth above life, and some rulers receive it and endure through trouble. The world is convinced not by what the pulpit teaches but by what the church lives, as practical piety demonstrates the power of the gospel, and those who receive the light turn to God, leave the world, and unite with one another while others resist it.

Sounding the first, second, and third angels' messages of Revelation 14:6-13 prepares the way, and Revelation 18 is the next great event brought to view after them. It is true missionary work bearing the truth to all nations with the most decided character. It is the testing message for this time, given after the time of those slain for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus seen under the altar at the fifth seal. It is to be given without delay for commercial gain to poor souls who are under Babylon's deceptive human and satanic influences, plainly warning them of danger so they do not share her sins and receive her plagues, since rejecting the Lord's word and following combined human and satanic agencies leads into Satan's snare. God's people should recognize and support this final work that brings light to the whole earth rather than restrict it with narrow ideas.

It belongs to the great salvation God longs to bestow on His followers, the richest truths He has again and again presented, and the light and glory with which He desires to fill the earth by the angel having great power. This salvation and call has been proclaimed repeatedly by messenger after messenger with rebuke, remonstrance, and entreaty.

Sabbath Worship Test

The voice from heaven is a present call for the coming test over worship, drawing a clear line between commandment-keeping people and worshipers of false gods so they leave fallen Babylon and its false worship and do not share its sins or receive its plagues. It requires choosing God's commandments rather than human commands under worldly pressure, refusing to worship the beast and his image, and keeping God's memorial Sabbath instead of the spurious rival sabbath. That rival sabbath was presented by the man of sin who thought to change times and laws and exalted himself above God by removing God's memorial, and the Christian world has accepted, cradled and nourished this child of the papacy in defiance of God. It is the second of two distinct calls to the churches in the last warning work, following the second angel's message because her sins have reached unto heaven and God has remembered her iniquities, paralleling Christ's cleansing of the temple at the beginning and again near the end of His ministry and paralleling God calling Israel out of Egypt that they might keep His Sabbath. It is the last message of mercy and warning to be given especially to hungering, praying souls in the churches, centered on proclaiming that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord and the seal of the living God, showing what to expect from the papal power that has made void the law and warning that Protestant churches are now reaching out to grasp its hand, a central message Satan would silence and from preaching which workers must not be disqualified by other lines of work.

It comes as the louder and more explicit continuation of the third angel's message after the first angel's proclamation of the hour of judgment and the second angel's proclamation of the fall of mystic Babylon, and the whole chapter is full of importance and consequence to every human agent and will bear close searching. In its present application it confronts and warns all co-workers in the great anti-Christian apostasy who deny the Sabbath instituted by God and trample His commandments to reverence a man-made institution and worship an idol sabbath, calling them mercifully to receive truth and remain loyal to God's law lest they share double retribution according to her works because her sins have reached heaven and God has remembered her iniquities. Faithful observance of the seventh day according to the commandment exposes that neglected duty owed to God and arouses moral sensibilities. Yet like the Jews disturbed by Christ at His first advent, the professed Christian world today rejects the truth of the message because it does not wish its customs and practices to be disturbed.

The call belongs to a future time of great and decisive actions when the so-called Christian world is the theater and every nation is involved, when men in authority enact laws controlling conscience after the example of the Papacy and Babylon makes all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. It is given after the churches make void the law of God and after church and state unite to restrict religious liberty and universally take up the institution of the man of sin, the heathen day of worship called Christian, in preference to God's holy sanctified day. It is given after the great secession in which world and church unite to tear down God's moral standard and erect the man of sin's standard, while earnest and distinguished men blinded by false doctrines drink deeply of Babylon's wine into superstition and apostasy, and after the truth has been proclaimed as a witness to all nations when every power of evil is active. Then minds are confused by many false voices claiming light and a message from God, landmarks and pillars of faith are removed and attacked, and a more decided effort is made to exalt the false sabbath by supplanting the day God blessed and sanctified, casting contempt upon God Himself and obliterating knowledge of Him, and to enforce religious observances including that false sabbath by oppressive civil law while Satan and his angels work wide-awake and intensely active through human instrumentalities with lying wonders and with Spiritualism and advancing papal power. At that threshold of great solemn last-day events, during a brief lull while angels hold the four winds before the unprecedented storm when nations are in confusion and kingdoms are shaken and the end is near, another mighty angel who lightens the earth with God's glory joins the third angel to proclaim Babylon's fall and call God's people still in Babylon to separate from her so they do not share her sins and punishment, and its crisis comes suddenly as a thief in the night.

It will be heard when the Sabbath question presses itself to the front and demands attention, though ministers are prepared to make any assertion and advance inconsistent doctrines to get rid of the Sabbath. At that time souls are all broken up and seem to have lost their foundation, so every jot and tittle of precious truth in reading matter is needed to help poor souls decide. Things ministers present may have the appearance of sound doctrine, but when compared with Scripture they are like chaff which the wind drives away, for truth is truth and cannot be changed to error.

Plagues and Retribution

The call to come out is given because her sins have built up to heaven and God has remembered her wrongdoing, and this is the ground of the punishment Babylon will receive. She is to be paid back for what she did to others, rewarded even as she rewarded others and doubled according to her works, with twice as much poured into the cup she filled. Torment and sorrow are matched to how much she glorified herself and lived in luxury, answering her proud claim in her heart to sit as a queen and no widow who will see no sorrow. Therefore her plagues of death and mourning and famine come in one day, and she is utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. This will be fulfilled in the coming crisis when retributive judgments fall on those who continued in sin against great light, when flattering monuments of human greatness are crumbled to dust, costly fireproof buildings become ashes as Sodom perished in flames of vengeance, and costly ships with gold and treasure sink, burying human pride gained by fraud while God avenges the oppressed.

The verse belongs to the message of Revelation 18:1-2 that contains the great test for the people, and it is to be given with a solemn sense of its importance and not in an indifferent manner, so it can do its special work, with spiritual interests given a larger place and the conversion of souls counted of greatest importance. The Ruler of the universe bears long with human perversity but keeps a record of works and will punish in proportion to the pain caused to others. The warning falls especially on those who judge and punish and cause pain to compel men to transgress the law God commanded all to obey and to worship against conscience, that as they judged and punished so they will be judged and punished and perish.

Before her judgment the light and the voice of bridegroom and bride cease in her, and she is found guilty of the blood of prophets and saints and of all slain upon the earth. The call urges separation before that judgment, when Babylon is fallen and has become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit, because all nations have drunk of the wine of her fornication and kings and merchants have joined her.

Revelation 18 is Christ Himself making known to John on the Isle of Patmos the last events of this earth's history, a solemn warning from God for these last days. It shows the two parties in the world and Satan's constant work with evil fallen angels in all deceivableness of unrighteousness to deceive if possible the very elect, and its perils are now upon us. It describes scenes about to take place, and those coming events are a cause for deep concern. Its symbols and figures must be understood through close, prayerful study rather than human ideas and false construction, because that understanding is necessary to shape the course of action by which God's people avoid receiving the plagues coming upon the world. Its meaning is learned with every verse of Revelation 11 and the scenes of Revelation 18 about things yet to take place in the cities, after false shepherds turn people from God's law to human theories, whose resulting wickedness brings consequences upon those responsible. The destruction of the city recently destroyed is a display of God's power because of its sins, a rebuke and calamity in which the Lord has spoken, and those who believe the prophecies must not ignore these indications, show indifference, make light of what they witnessed, or flatter themselves that they will build far greater buildings in the future. If those rebuked defiantly invest their means as before, God will exercise His power to counteract their efforts, and the call requires hearing His voice and requires men who have abused privileges and taken advantage of fellow men to make amends for the wrong done.

Proclaiming the Call

The call must be proclaimed boldly and powerfully with a strong voice, with no whispered, tame, muffled, indistinct or unimpressive tones, without toning down or weakening its truth. It is a life-and-death matter of the highest importance for this time, to be given with solemn sense of its importance, made clear, definite and intelligible to reasoning minds so people see where they stand, with best plans considered and its full meaning made clear as the final test approaches. It belongs to the urgent last-days message exposing Babylon's corruption and spiritual unfaithfulness and trampling of the commandments, announcing that Babylon the great is fallen and become the habitation of devils and every foul spirit because all nations have drunk the wine of her fornication, commanding God's people to come out so they will not share her sins which have reached to heaven where God has remembered her iniquities and will not receive her plagues, given in harmony with the first, second and third angels' messages with nothing allowed to dim the light of the third angel's message whose work lightens the earth with glory, including in connection with true medical missionary work. It is to be proclaimed now, just now, together with the Sabbath truth as the great testing truth for this time and as part of the third angel's message, before the cities of the South, in cities, at camp-meetings and at every opportunity, strengthened and confirmed despite effort to bind about it. Distractions and side issues can divert attention from that test and hinder preparation to stand amid the dangers of the last days.

It is to be sounded by human agencies cooperating with divine instrumentalities, not as a soft, smooth message but as words calculated to stir hearts to their very depths, bringing the long-prayed-for heavenly endowment in large measure. God takes the reins in His own hands in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things and contrary to human planning and to any human planning, using simple means and ways and means of His own choosing to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness, surprising the workers. The Lord will raise up men as His ambassadors to stand on higher ground and proclaim the warning with a loud voice, fully sanctified to the Lord as His messengers standing on higher ground with no odd expressions from their lips that detract from interest, with nothing needless in the plans and no false moves. Workers must not bind about His work to meet narrow ideas, nor narrow, control or dictate what movements shall be made, but those who have means must be roused to a sense of duty to advance home and foreign and home and foreign missions work and come up to the help of the Lord. Only those who draw nigh to God and drink deeply and more deeply and continuously at the fountain of living water will recognize and discern God's work at every point when it comes, receiving the divine touch, and workers who make mistakes must be given a chance to correct their errors and learn caution while the work is left in their hands. The third angel's message with its loud cry is to be carried directly to people through Bible readings with neighbors and a truthful influence in the home, for God's people are not to hide away and wait for others to seek them out.

Giving the last message of mercy and warning to all inhabitants of the world before the Lord soon comes requires personal house-to-house work opening the Scriptures and praying, with earnest appeal for believers to realize their responsibility, and missions with trained workers laboring discreetly and intelligently in public and private effort in all large cities without delay. It is the last warning to be given in the cities joined with the announcement that Babylon is fallen, calling God's honest-hearted and distinct and separate people who refuse to worship the beast or his image and bear God's sign by keeping His Sabbath and commandments to come out, following the first, second and third angels and the coming down of another angel with great power who lightens the earth with glory and cries Babylon is fallen because kings and merchants joined her, and it belongs to the work before God sends judgments for disobedience after watchmen give warning, calling for means to be invested. It must go with power in large cities and in small cities to prepare a people for the coming of the King, the second united to the third, with every effort made because time is short, and without delay. God has a message for wicked cities including Greater New York and will provide the means to awaken it. In the Waldensian valleys many will hear through God's word and come to the light and take their stand for God and Bible truth apart from religious leaders, the third angel's message reflected by honest hearts and the dim light shining again, and as in 1842-1844 when many took the Sabbath and needed churches, the church under providential aid diffuses salvation to every city and town.

The message is one Satan wants silenced and must not be treated as unimportant or as an inferior matter, for it is central, especially to those in the churches hungering and praying for light, joined with proclaiming that the seventh day is the seal of the living God, showing what to expect from the papal power that made void God's law and warning that Protestant churches are reaching to grasp its hand, and workers must not be disqualified from preaching it by other lines of work. Satan has devised a state of things to bind about its proclamation, and his plans and methods must be guarded against. He will mingle deceptions with truth to create side issues that turn attention from the great issue, with deceptions, distractions and false interpretations diverting attention from the last-days test to be brought upon God's people and keeping its effect unfelt and hindering preparation to stand.

Its presentation is to result in the conversion and sanctification of souls through the felt power of the Spirit of God in the movement, a wonderful definite message meaning everything to the receiver. It calls for a converted people who walk in the light they have, leading people to turn from known harmful practices, exercise self-denial and be prepared to stand before God, for claiming to believe while rejecting its demands to keep favored indulgences works against their welfare and harms the church by giving a wrong impression. It is to be proclaimed with a loud cry with true abiding faith and with increasing importance until the close of time.

Health reform is part of the third angel's message, as closely joined to it as the arm and hand to the human body, and an advance move in it is required as preparation for the loud cry for which God's people are not yet prepared. Health principles are to be presented with that worldwide loud proclamation but must not stand apart from it or independently of it or take its place, for health reform is closely connected though it is not the message itself. Preparation for the loud cry is an individual work God has left for each person to do for himself, which must not be left for God to do and which one cannot do for another, requiring ministers and people to act in concert.

Giving it demands decided reformatory action with no compromise or half-hearted witness, but decided testimony, for it is a decided call to leave Babylon in an age of apostasy, attended by the light and glory of God as clear truth that lightens the earth and continues to shine rather than flashing and leaving darkness, with earnestness and power proving a voice from the throne given with distinctness proportionate to its importance, carrying forward the light shone through past messengers whose protest distinguishes Protestants who continue as such in the first, second and third angels' messages. It requires uplifting the trailed standard of Christianity, labor for reformation in the religious churches, reform in every town and city, whole-hearted witness for the downtrodden law, sharing in Christ's work of reform with His spirit, and special care for the suffering and oppressed. Coming out must be revealed to the world by walking in the light as Christ is in the light, with work of preparation beginning in every family, cherishing no idols and allowing nothing to engross mind or affections that would intercept the bright rays of the Sun of Righteousness going before, with the glory of the Lord as rereward. It is the last warning to be repeated in its simplicity as the precious words of Christ, as waters of salvation to thirsting souls, given with the third angel's message while showing that the signs predicting Christ's second coming are rapidly fulfilling, a duty to which believers are not half awake. God's people must have hearts purified from sin, recognize backsliding and repent zealously so they can receive Jesus' presence and be ready, for the Laodicean message exposing backsliding and leading to zealous repentance to prepare for His presence and the loud cry takes time. The world will be convinced not by what the pulpit teaches but by what the church lives, as practical piety demonstrates gospel power and faces shine with heaven's light, though enfeebled and defective and constantly needing warning and counsel the church is Christ's supreme regard and He transforms erring hearts until angels marvel and rejoice.

Misapplications Rejected

The call to come out does not apply to the people whom God has made the repositories and depositaries of His law and to whom He has committed sacred trust and eternal truth for the world, who keep His commandments. Babylon that has fallen is the churches that would not receive the warnings given in the first, second, and third angels' messages, that refused the truth and accepted a lie, whose wine to be avoided is the exalting of the false and spurious Sabbath above the Sabbath which the Lord Jehovah blessed and sanctified for the use of man, together with the immortality of the soul and the rejection of the truth, converting a church into Babylon where kings, merchants, rulers, and religious teachers are all in corrupt harmony. To broadcast that call against God's commandment-keeping, organized people serves Satan and stands by the side of the accuser of the brethren, for those who breast opposition from the world and uplift the downtrodden commandments of God as honorable and holy are indeed the light of the world. If that call meant leaving them, there would be nowhere else to go to find purity, goodness, holiness and security, for there is no fold where no wolves will enter. God instead leads out a people and deals with them by reproving and correcting them, and the message to the Laodiceans applies to those who have had great light and have not walked in it, so the verse must not be used to turn believers against the church where God works to correct its faults.

No message using this verse to declare the Seventh-day Adventist Church to be Babylon the harlot, a den of thieves, a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, the habitation of devils drunk with fornication with kings and rich through delicacies, whose sins reached heaven, or to summon God's people out of it, has been sent by God or by any heavenly messenger or any human agent inspired by the Spirit of God. All reasons offered for such use have no weight, it is spurious, erroneous, and false and not God's plan, and believers must not believe it whatever the claimants' sincerity. The message announcing Babylon's downfall and calling God's people out of her so they will not share in her sins or receive her plagues is to be proclaimed again, and it does not identify the Seventh-day Adventist Church as Babylon nor number God's people with Babylon. It is not a commission to accuse that church of Babylon's sins, since the church is God's people upholding His commandments, nor a warrant for calling God's people out of a church receiving spiritual refreshing. That call to come out of Babylon must not be confused with attacks that tear down the church rather than help restore it.

Those who bring such an accusing loud cry of the third angel are not sent by God and must not be believed, even when intelligent, earnest, zealous, self-denying, and consecrated in appearance and claiming to believe the testimonies and using them to give force and appearance of truth to their claims. Their prediction that its leaders will all fall through self-exaltation and be replaced by another class of humble men who will do wonderful things bears not the divine credentials, and their message deceives the unwary. Its inspiration is of Satan, shown by leading followers into dishonest and criminal acts to spread it and by setting a time for probation to close that fails. Babylon is the fallen denominational churches, not God's chosen ones who are trying to walk in the light nor the church that is standing in the breach and rebuilding the old waste places, and to denounce that church as Babylon is the work of the accuser of the brethren.

The woman, her, means the churches, and the call to come out of her commands leaving the churches so as not to be defiled by partaking of their sins and receiving of their plagues. The verse has been applied incorrectly, and that wrong application causes confusion.

Living the Separation

Answering the call means coming out to be separate with full obedience rather than halfway service of God and mammon, striving for right thoughts and pure and holy purposes. For the church and for publishing houses, colleges, and sanitariums it means standing as peculiar, governed and controlled by the Bible standard, preserving truth in purity. It means not patterning after worldly institutions or other institutions in the land, not coming into harmony with worldly principles in order to gain patronage, support, status, money, or public approval, and never turning from the straight line of duty for any motive. Those under control of the Spirit of God with Christ presiding in the heart answer by not seeking their own pleasure or amusement and by refusing alliances with unbelievers and partnerships with worldly interests, giving God undivided allegiance.

The command to come out also calls God's people to leave institutions, including popular schools, that form principles leading to a profession of godliness without its power, since separation from popular churches includes separation from the worldly education that produces their condition. It calls for separation from Babylon and from association with worldlings and evildoers, so as not to share in her sins or receive her judgments. This belongs to the closing work of the gospel when the earth is illuminated with God's glory and the Holy Spirit powerfully reveals and exalts Christ, bringing many who were deceived to faith and preparing God's people for the final conflict.

God's people become partakers in others' sins when they support them in carrying out oppressive measures against religious liberty. In this application, voting for officials who promote compulsory Sunday observance makes voters share in those officials' sins, including their violation of God's Sabbath. Babylon has fallen from her high estate to become a persecuting power whose wrath is aimed at those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus, showing how completely the powers of earth give themselves over to evil. Therefore it is dangerous for those who have received the truth to link up with secret societies or to join in any way with those who do not keep God's commandments.

The warning also means physical separation from sinful cities, getting out and locating schools and sanitariums not in the cities but in the most healthful rural places miles away from the large cities. This is because the spiritual atmosphere and the very atmosphere of the city is polluted and unfavorable, and because cities will certainly feel terrible destruction by earthquakes, fires, flood, and lightnings. In the last day the heavens are lighted up and balls looking like fire full of arrows fall and strike, bringing great calamities, setting houses on fire that no human effort can extinguish, shaking the earth, crashing homes to the ground, and filling everywhere with confusion, distressing screeching and praying. Revelation 18:1-7 is a living reality that will surely happen, to be given with great power, and the Word of God believed and practiced is the only hope, requiring putting away magazines and other fictitious reading and choosing belief in God's Word over Satan's sophistry by reading and understanding verses 1-4 and 5-7 to know where the world stands in earth's history.

The destruction of a city recently destroyed is a wonderful display of God's power because of its sins, a rebuke and calamity in which the Lord has spoken, including crashing and breaking up of the most expensive, thoroughly constructed homes. Those who believe the prophecies and have witnessed it must not ignore God's rebuke or special indications, show indifference, make light of what they witnessed, pass the warning by unnoticed, or flatter themselves that they will build far greater buildings in the future. If those rebuked defiantly invest their means as before God will exercise His power to counteract their efforts, so they must heed, make amends for wrongs done by men who have abused privileges and taken advantage of fellow men, cease exalting the spurious Sabbath so they are not partakers of sin and do not receive of the plagues, and hear His voice. Its meaning is learned with every verse of Revelation 11 and the scenes of Revelation 18 about things yet to take place in the cities, applied to Battle Creek by repeatedly telling God's people to get out because staying left many ready to die spiritually and by scattering rather than centralizing, and given as solemn warning to people in cities such as Los Angeles before complete destruction falls.

It is a searching message to those who claim to believe the truth, calling them to see if the sins of which Babylon is guilty reach even to them. Babylon is the nominal churches, and her sins are shared by assimilating to their practices when iniquity abounds and the love of many grows cold, revealing deficiency in religious experience and manners toward God. It requires truth in the inward parts rather than self-complacency and spurious counterfeit righteousness, walking circumspectly and safely before God who searches hearts and tries reins, and praying for God to search the heart, know the thoughts, and lead in the way everlasting. Babylon can also be created among God's people when division separates them, weakens their faith and courage, and unbelief takes root and bears an evil harvest.

Separation is to be repeated whenever a religious body forbids light. It means leaving the State Church over the truth that immortality comes only through Christ, and another separation even from a company of reformers united for freedom to express faith when some receive the light on the seventh-day Sabbath and seek to reflect it to others but meet oppression and opposition and find no liberty to speak of the Sabbath. Honest people held by deception will separate from wicked influence so they do not share in its sins and plagues, as those deceived by the publishers of the Messenger of Truth would eventually break away while the group opposing truth would fall under God's judgment, truth triumphing and those aligned with that wicked influence falling.

The call is sounding as the Lord's glory is to fill the earth, joined to the call to come out from among the unclean and be separate, describing God calling a people out of the world and nominal churches and separating them to look for the second advent of Christ. It is another invitation from the Lord warning to come out from the corrupting influences of the world and come on the Lord's side, leaving old mystic Babylon to sound the jubilee and tell that the Lord is coming with power and great glory. It is part of a last-day call to leave error and respond to the truth without mingling error, with members of different churches to be given opportunity to recognize that they are not walking in truth, each person's case decided by obedience or disobedience. Separation from an apostate church that refuses to abandon falsehood and idolatry is necessary for obedience to God and to avoid accepting errors that endanger souls and the faith of future generations, since peace and unity must not be bought by compromising truth or righteousness.