|
COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE. FLEE BABYLON!
March, 1999
Babylon!
It symbolizes the confusion caused by godlessness. It derives from Babil, i.e. "gate of the god". The
literal Babylon lies in the land of Shinar (Gen. 10:10) about
50 miles south of modern Bagdad. The Euphrates River runs by the ruins which extend over several square miles.
We find in the ruins the Ishtar Gate -- brick work depicting the musnuss-dragon of Marduk and the bull of Hadad,
a temple dedicated to Ninmakh, and a stelae of the Hittite god Teshup, the "Lion of Babylon" which is
a sculpture of a lion trampling a fallen human enemy.
Babylon was defended by a double-wall system and a flood defense. On the "Procession way" which began
at the Ishtar Gate, there are stones inscribed with: "I am Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon...I paved the road
of Babylon with mountain stones for the procession of the mighty lord Marduk. May Marduk, my lord, grant me eternal
life!" (see Dan. 4:30 for
more). Babylon reportedly had 180 open-air shrines for Ishtar and more than 1800 sacred places for other deities.
Genesis
10:10 tells us that Nimrod founded Babylon. Hammurabi
(1792-1750) set up the copy of his laws and now famous code as a report to the god Marduk.
The Babylonians considered Babylon on the River Euphrates to be the center of the world. Thus Babylon has come
to represent the world's center acting against God's people. Some have considered Rome to be a "Babylon."
Others have considered Babylon to be a decadent Jerusalem.
Symbolically, Babylon is a great city which will have a dramatic fall as had Mesopotamian Babylon (Rev. 18:2,10,21).
As the "mother of harlots", it stands in opposition to the new Jerusalem (Rev. 17:5). It
is a ruling international center (Rev. 14:8,17:1,15,18)
of trade and sea power (Rev. 18:3,11,19),
persecutor of the saints (Rev. 18),
morally weakened by wealth and luxury (18:11-17).
What fulfills this mystery of Babylon, this mother of harlots, this Ishtar? I think of false comfort, lies, a confusion
of truth and error, false promises of eternal life, false sources of prosperity, fruitfulness, regeneration, the
creating of new life. I think of false wisdom, godlessness, lawlessness, a counterfeit code from a counterfeit
trinity establishing an alternative world order/system that dominates rather than exercises dominion. Therein resides
the Queen of Heaven, which causes the nations to become drunk with her wine, intoxicating and enslaving hearts,
causing the unsuspecting to be led astray from the truth as she hawks her wares by the side of every road, luring
eyes to turn to her and buy into her counterfeit wisdom, another word.
We are about to celebrate Easter, Jesus' resurrection from the grave. And we think about separating ourselves from
"Babylon". Romans 1:3,4 speaks
of the "Son of God", who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be
the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead. According to the
flesh, Jesus was born of the seed of David. According to the Spirit, Jesus was the first begotten of the dead.
The new life Jesus received in the resurrection was a life in the power of the Spirit of holiness.
Jesus' resurrection resulted from the life and holiness and self-sanctifying which culminated in His obedience
to the point of crucifixion. The resurrection was the fruit which the Life of Holiness bore in Jesus' obedience.
As Andrew Murray has stated: "The Resurrection Life and the Spirit of Holiness are inseparable. Christ sanctified
Himself in death, that we ourselves might be sanctified in truth."
As a believer, you have part in this Resurrection Life. You are risen with Christ and commanded to reckon yourself
to be alive unto God in Christ Jesus, knowing it, yielding to it (Romans 6 ). The
Spirit of that same holiness must be in you the mark and the power of your life. Jesus did the will of the Father
only, always, completely. As you purpose to do God's will in everything, you will enter into the joy and power
of the resurrection life more fully. The will of God expresses God's moral perfection, His divine Holiness. What
it was to Jesus it will be to you as you grow in holiness.
Determine this Easter that out of the grave of the flesh and the will of self, the Spirit of Holiness will break
out in resurrection power. Accept death to the flesh, death to self, and in quiet faith expect the Spirit of Christ
to do His work of sanctifying you. Remember, pardon and holiness are inseparable; they have the same source, i.e.,
union with the Risen, Living Christ.
What would the Spirit say to the churches?
1) I Am the Lord your God. Walk before Me and be ye holy. Have no other gods before you. The way is narrow, the
path straight. Do not veer to the right or to the left. Stay focused on the truth. (1 Peter 1:15,16)
2) Be not drunk with the wine of the Queen of Heaven. Be filled with the Holy Spirit, with His wine. (Eph.
5:15-18)
3) Do not partake of her bread, her words of worldly wisdom (James 3) but understand and know that man does not
live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. (Deut. 8:3, Lk. 4:4, Mt. 4:4)
Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life. His words are spirit and they are life. (John 6)
4) Do not seek the comfort she offers in complacency and compromise, leading to the corruption that comes from
spiritual adultery. She offers relics, tangible proofs, tokens, the false evidence of counterfeit spiritual experiences.
She offers tangible sacred places and holy things for those who must see to believe. But God would have us believe
in order to see. God would have us understand that the holy things and sacred places are His Word, His people,
Him. Jesus said that we would no longer worship on this mount or that mount, but worship in in spirit and in truth.
(John
4)
5) Queen of Heaven in her various forms is everywhere, unseen to those lying in a drunken stupor of disbelief.
She takes up residence in manifold religions and organized churches, appealing to those who enjoy having rituals,
magic, formulas, control. Keep the perspective of the message of Colossians.
6) She seeks to defile the true temple of God through sexual sin, ritual prostitution (Rev. 2:18-29, 1 Cor. 6:12-20).
7) She calls herself a prophetess, leading people astray through complicated and elaborate religious requirements
and rules, codes of outward behavior and dress. God works from the inside out. (Mt. 7:13-27, 15:1-20)
Joined by the Serpent, the Queen of Heaven gives birth to the Anti-christ, a mother to the counterfeit child. She
leads into apostasy, lawlessness, and social injustice. Nevertheless, the one true and living God will Himself
execute the judgment on the Queen of Heaven (Isa. 47) and on
Babylon (Rev. 17,18). It
will come suddenly and surely. Thus, we are warned to flee, repent and return to the true, the truth, Jesus Christ.
In Jerusalem (where we were sent this March), we were escorted directly to the East Gate by a Muslim guide provided
by God. We went, as directed, to the Wailing Wall. We found ourselves before the shrine of the Queen of Heaven
and stood in agreement with all of God's heart concerning this counterfeit Holy Spirit.
The gospel was preached atop Mount Zion toward Israel over the Valley of Hinnom. There we called in the harvest,
breaking fallow ground, pulling weeds, removing rocks of offense. In the valley of the shadow of death, between
two walls, we released the anointing of peace and blessing to Jerusalem. As we finished, families of orthodox Jews
passed before us in the wave of that anointing. (See O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem.)
To those who gave of their time and money to this mandated Jerusalem mission, I thank you. In April I go with our
daughter Joanna to proclaim the judgment of God's word on the Queen of Heaven at Rome, at Athens, at Delphi, at
Ephesus, and at Istanbul.
May the true Comforter, the Holy Spirit of Christ, come to you with the peace of Christ, King of Salem, King of
Righteousness. Open your gates that the King of Glory may come in (Psalm 24).
Taking His Name to the Nations,
Mary J. Craig
|