Come Out of Her, My People!
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”
Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself.
“In her heart she boasts, `I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.” Revelation 18:1-8
In this verse, Adonai is commanding His people to “come out of her.” This makes one wonder, “who is she?” Babylon, as the world knew her, no longer exists… or does it? Is Babylon a place, or is it something else? Let’s take a closer look and see what the message is that we need to get a hold of.
Babylon is mentioned many times in the bible. Babylon is the area where Abram was from (Ur of the Chaldeans is in the land of Babylon.) This is also the place where we find the Tower of Babel and Nimrod. Nimrod was defined in Genesis as “a mighty hunter before the LORD.” (Gen. 10:9) The word “before” can also be translated as “against.” This man was the one who first became mighty against the Lord. According to The Book of Jasher, Nimrod became the owner of the skins made by God Himself to cover Adam and Eve. These were worn by him, and gave him added strength (spiritually speaking.) This man went on to lead “the world” into spiritual harlotry, worshiping the sun, moon, and stars instead of the One who created them.
Nimrod and his wife, or mother, or both (according to some sources) Semiromis began the whole “cult” system. Nimrod was worshipped as a god while he was still alive, beginning the concept of god-rulers found in Roman times. When he died, Semiromis became pregnant and announced that she was carrying none other then Nimrod himself, reincarnated. The child she bore (Tammuz) became known as the “son of god”, and his birthday was at the time of the winter solstice. When Tammuz died, Semiromis taught the people to weep for him bitterly, and then he would rise again. Each year, before the spring solstice, the women of Babylon would begin mourning the death of Tammuz with loud cries and tears. They believed that their tears for Tammuz would water the earth and bring their god back to life. This is what was known as “weeping for Tammuz.” (See Ezekiel 8:14) Then, a few days later, they would rejoice at the “re-birth” of their god-king as displayed in the rebirth of the earth (which happened each spring.) They would then celebrate Semiromis (also know by the name Estarte) in a feast of “fertility” that was named after her.
When the tower of Babel was destroyed, Adonai confused the language of the people and scattered them (see Gen. 11:5-9.) These people took their religion (founded by Nimrod and Semiromis) with them. This is why we find “mother and child” god and goddesses all over the globe.
When we read of Babylon in the bible, prophetically speaking, we are to understand this background. Babylon represents all false religions, because they all started there. Nimrod himself is a prototype (if you will) of the coming anti-Messiah. He could directly trace his roots back to Noah (he was the son of Cush, the son of Ham, the son of Noah) and had the skins to prove to the world (or so he thought) that his was the chosen line of God’s blessing. He literally had the power over life and death of his people, and built great cities. His influence was found throughout the known world.
Although Babylon is also a physical location, many believe that the verse in Revelation speaks to the falling of the actual city of Babylon. Since this has already fallen, they see the need to have it rebuilt before it can be destroyed again. They are missing the spiritual aspect of the verse. Does this verse speak of the physical Babylon, or the spiritual Babylon? Let’s take a closer look.
Revelation 14:8 contains the first reference to Babylon in this book. A second angel followed and said, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” “Adultery”, unless specifically related to the male/female relationship, always refers to spiritual adultery between God and man. We are to be his bride, right?
When Adonai proposed to us from atop Mt. Sinai, He set about certain conditions to this marriage. In fact, He began setting down these conditions before the children of Israel even got that far, at the waters of Marah.
Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them. And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.” Exodus 15:25-26
Adonai provides for His peoples needs in ways that they would never have imagined. The only thing He asks in return is that we keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances. What exactly are these things, and how do we keep them? If we are to be His bride, we should know what we are agreeing to, shouldn’t we? After all, when we asked Him to become master of our hearts, we joined the rest of His chosen people in saying, “we will do everything the Lord has said.”
Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: `You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the LORD has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD. Exodus 19:3-8
We were grafted-in to the tribes of Israel when we became believers in the One True God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Paul told us about this in his letter to the Romans.
I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Romans 11:13-21
Adonai will not spare us either if we act in unbelief. Let’s put it this way, if we don’t pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, we are choosing not to do everything the LORD has said and are therefore committing adultery.
If we don’t want to be found guilty of adultery, we had better find out what are His commands and decrees, don’t you think? It is just the 10 Commandments, or is there more to it? A check under the heading of “commandments” will bring you a list of 613 commandments. These do not all apply to everyone, some are just for the Levites, some for women, and some for men only. The rest, the one’s under the heading “the children of Israel” apply to all who call themselves by the Name of the Lord.
Leviticus 18:26-30 states this quite plainly:
“But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. Everyone who does any of these detestable things–such persons must be cut off from their people. Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the LORD your God.”
What were these detestable things that the people of the land where doing? They were simply following the same religion as the one started in Babylon. These people worshipped false gods and claimed them to be the true god. They set up idols in their places of worship. Molech and Baal, both gods of the Canaanites, can be directly traced back to Nimrod himself.
Once could easily say, “Well, I’m not worshipping any false gods. I go to church just like a good believer should, so I have nothing to worry about.” I too felt that way, until I came across another verse that got me thinking. It was Yeshua Himself who said that in the end times (which we are now in, right?) we could easily be deceived. Let’s look at Matthew 24.
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:3-14
Watch out that no one deceives you is the very first thing that Yeshua tells His disciples. Many will come saying, “I am the anointed one of God” (the meaning of the word Christ) and will deceive many and cause them to turn away from the faith. This increase in wickedness, which can also be translated as lawlessness, or living your life without the Law, will cause love to grow cold. This is the same thing Yeshua warns the churches in Asia about in the beginning of Revelation.
So, how do we make sure that we are not among those who are deceived? By doing the very same thing that Yeshua taught His disciples to do, hold fast to the Laws that Moses brought down from the mountain. This is the same thing that Paul taught and displayed to those around him. I know that there are many today who claim that the Law of Moses has been done away with. This teaching is contrary to what Yeshua taught, and therefore a false teaching.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:17-19
Fulfill does not mean “get rid of.” The word translated here as “fulfill” is the world “pleroo” which means to fill up something or in this case, to accomplish or perform what was foretold or prefigured in the Old Testament. In fact, the Lexical Aids to the New Testament states:
“When Jesus said that He came not to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfill, He meant that He came not only to fulfill the types and prophecies by His actions and sufferings, but also to perform perfect obedience to the law of God in His own person and fully to enforce and explain it by His doctrine. Thus He has fully satisfied the requirements of the law.”
Anyone who teaches this doctrine, that the Law has been done away with, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. I don’t know about you, but I would like to be a little more then the least.
So, the Law (Torah in Hebrew) was not done away with. This means that we are still responsible to keep the Law. If we do not, we are committing adultery. So the next question that naturally follows is this: how much of the Law are we required to follow? Where is the line that divides that which we need to follow and that which we don’t? This is the question that has caused many divisions in the church universal, and ultimately the birth of the different denominations. Do we follow the dietary laws? Do we have to have our heads covered? When should one be baptized? What about Sabbath? Each different answer began each different denomination.
The answer is quite simple, we follow all the laws that apply to us. I am not a Levite, so the Levitical laws do not apply to me. I am a woman, so the laws that apply to women apply to me, but not the ones that apply just to men. Where does one start to follow the Law? I recommend Sabbath.
I have heard many Christians teach on how to keep Sabbath. There is one very important thing that they miss: Adonai’s definition of Sabbath.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:2-3
God defines the Sabbath as the seventh day of the week. Look at your calendar, which day is the seventh day (or the last day) of the week? It is not Sunday. It is Saturday. So, we should observe the Sabbath on Saturday? Well, not exactly. You see, God defines a day differently then we do as well. We see a day starting at mid-night and ending at mid-night (12 p.m.) God defines a day as the period of time from sunset to sunset. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning–the sixth day. Genesis 1:31
Some may say, “so what? Why should it matter which day of the week I observe, as long as I take a day off?” This question is asked in the spirit of the disobedient son. The disobedient son sees every law as a limitation to his freedom, because to him freedom means “not having to live by anyone’s rules but my own.” The obedient son sees the Law as his covering, his guidelines and guidebook to the very freedom we all need… the freedom from sin. Adonai specifically tells the children of Israel that the honoring of His Sabbath is the sign of the covenant.
“`Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.
The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.’ ” Exodus 31:14-17
He speaks of the death penalty for anyone who disobeys. I think He really wants us to keep the Sabbath!
So, why don’t we? Why doesn’t the church universal still keep God’s Sabbath? Some teach that it was changed to Sunday in order to honor the day our Messiah rose from the grave. This is not true. Not only is there a day already established that celebrates this (He rose on the Feast of Firstfruits) but this is not how history tells the story.
This is how the story goes: In the fourth century of the common era, Emperor Constantine (the Holy Roman Emperor and bearer of the title Pontifus Maximus) decided to unite the world under one religion. He decided to merge the religion of Mithraism, with its holidays and holy days, with Christianity, with its forgiveness of sins and entrance into heaven. Those elders of the church who did not agree with this were simply not invited to the meeting (council.) As a result of this council (the council of Nicea) a law was passed declaring that all worship was to be done on Sunday, in honor of the sun god (of which Mithra was its reborn sun – think Tammuz.) Anyone who did not obey would be put to death. Many Jews, and Christians too, were killed “in the name of Christ.” Imagine being killed in the name of the God you are serving, because you are serving Him in the manner He indicated! If this isn’t the beginning of the apostasy (or the falling away from the true faith,) I don’t know what was!
You see, the birth of the Holy Roman Catholic Church was the beginning of the end of the true church of God. After this, most of the believers who were truly following The Way had to do so in secret. A remnant of these believers has always remained. Unfortunately, the majority of New Covenant Believers followed the teachings of the church. For the most part, this was not their fault, they simply didn’t know any better. They were unable to read the scriptures for themselves and had no choice but to believe what was being taught to them.
We no longer have that “luxury.” We are living in the end times. Ask anyone; they will tell you this is true. We have the Word of God readily available for all to read. Most New Covenant Believers have more then one copy of them. All of this information is found in the bible, yet we won’t read and study for ourselves. The church universal is more interested in being bottle fed the milk of the gospel then to hunt for the meat found within.
So, what does all of this have to do with Babylon?
Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY; BABYLON THE GREAT; THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Yeshua. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come. This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. Revelation 17:3-9
This harlot (someone who commits adultery) sits upon seven hills. Rome also sits upon 7 hills. Rome is the seat of the Catholic Church. She is also referred to as “the mother of prostitutes.” To what did the Catholic Church give birth? All of the other Christian denominations, of course! If you were to read the writings of the Catholic Church, you would see that they consider all of the other Christians as under their headship. How can they say that? Because they decided on Sunday worship (that was declared by the Pope – Constantine) and all who honor Sunday worship are following his command and therefore still under his (the pope’s) authority. Check it out for yourself, it is not hard to find this information as they are not trying to hide it (in fact, they are quite proud of the fact that the whole world is still following their lead.)
Pages: 1 2