“We preach Christ crucified”
1 Corinthians 1:23

Come Out of Babylon!

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!  She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit… Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins and receive her plagues.” Revelation 18:2-4

   The new Jerusalem is the holy city of God, the bride of Christ and the kingdom of heaven. In dark contrast, Babylon is the abominable city of Satan, the mother of harlots and the kingdom of the world (Revelation 17 & 18).  Yet many of God’s people are not only doing business in Babylon, they are living in Babylon and loving Babylon.  This is appalling, since God’s intention was, by His Son’s death, to rescue us from the dominion of darkness and bring us into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).

    The English word “church” is derived from the Greek word kuriakos, which means “to belong to the Lord.”  In the New Testament, however, “church” is directly translated from the Greek word ekklesia, which means congregation, and its root meaning is “to call out from.”  Based on the Greek words kuriakos and ekklesia, the church comprises those people who belong to the Lord and whom He has called out from the world.  However, after we are saved, if we do not come out of Babylon, we will be judged with Babylon.

   Salvation is only the beginning and not the end of God’s eternal purpose for His people.  The power of Christ’s gospel is intended to not only save you from Babylon; it is intended keep you (sanctify you) from ever returning to Babylon. On the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus prayed to God on behalf of His disciples, “I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.  They are not of world, even as I am not of this world.  Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth (John 17:15-17).”  The apostle James warned God’s people to keep themselves “unpolluted by the world (James 1:27).” The apostle John wrote, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world (John 2:15-16).”  The apostle Paul exhorted, “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him (2 Timothy 2:4).”  Many professing Christians say they want to avoid the mark of the Beast, but tragically they already have the mark of Babylon on them.  Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21).”  Your heart cannot be divided between two cities – the new Jerusalem and Babylon.  Once again, Jesus said, “Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other (Matthew 6:21-24).”

   Babylon is the kingdom of this world.  When you seek to fulfill your soul-life with the riches and pleasures of Babylon, you are an enemy of God’s kingdom.  Everyone who is not born again already belongs to Babylon but every Christian who is governed by his soul-life (instead of the Spirit) remains captive to Babylon.  The Bible says that Babylon is a dwelling place for every kind of demonic spirit (Revelation 18:2).  You may be born again, but if your soul-life is not submitted to Christ, you can be snared by Babylon’s forces.  If you habitually seek comfort, companionship and fulfillment in Babylon, you are hostile to God.  James warned, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?  Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (James 4:4).” Paul said, “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21).”  

   How can you escape from the tentacles of Babylon and God’s wrath to come?  If you are a born again Christian, begin to believe and act on what Christ has accomplished for you on the cross.  Only the cross of Christ can save you and deliver you from the kingdom of this world.    The Bible says that when Christ was crucified, your sinful nature was not only crucified with Him; it was removed from you so that Christ might live in you (Romans 6:3-11; Galatians 2:20).  Therefore, the cross of Christ has fully delivered you from the power of Babylon.  Since you no longer have a sinful nature, Babylon should no longer have a foothold in you.  As Paul testified, “May I never boast except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world (Galatians 6:14).”  Babylon rules and corrupts the world – politically, economically and religiously. The false church belongs to Babylon and comprises everyone who practices a form of godliness, but by their deeds deny the power of the cross (2 Timothy 3:5).  The true church is Christ’s bride, whereas the false church is Satan’s harlot.  Every child of God must come out of the false church before God’s wrath is poured out on Babylon. 

   When our hearts are set on the world and we are indulging ourselves in the things of the world, we prove ourselves to be enemies of the cross of Christ (Philippians 3:18-19).  If we lose sight of Christ and His completed work on the cross, then the desire to follow Him, suffer with Him and come out of the world loses its focus and becomes pathetically dim.  If we allow ourselves to be seduced by Babylon, we will lose our inheritance as Christ’s bride.  “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God (1 Peter 4:1-2).”  The time is coming when God will judge Babylon.  Every child of God should judge themselves now and, if convicted of sin, you must repent resolutely and come out of Babylon so you will not be judged and condemned with the world.

“We know that we are the children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” 1 John 5:19 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord… “And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me.”    2 Corinthians 6:17-18

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