PART II
THE IDENTITY OF BABYLON

THE GREAT ENEMY OF THE TRUTH

Bro. Whittaker validly points out in chapter 8 of his book that "practically every prophecy of the Old Testament springs out of the immediate circumstances surrounding the prophet at the time of writing." But then he writes:

"At the time when the prophecy was given to John (A.D. 66), the outstanding circumstances of importance to the early believers were the ferocious persecution of the Christians by Nero, and the seething restlessness and turmoil in Judaea which already gave plain promise of worse to come in the troubles of the Jewish War, A.D. 67-70."

Neither the prophet John nor those to whom he was writing were in Rome, where the Nero persecution raged for a short time, nor were they in Palestine, where the Jewish War occurred. The Apocalypse was not given to Jews in Israel, nor was it written to the ecclesia in Jerusalem. It was addressed to Gentile ecclesias. The real circumstances under which the Revelation was written were (1) a time when there was severe persecution throughout Asia Minor - some 30 years after Nero's reign, and (2) a threatened falling away from the true faith on the part of the ecclesias (see footnotes 1 and 2). These were the prominent issues which the Spirit, through the apostle John, had to address.

Bro. Whittaker includes an important section in his book under the title, The Great Enemy of the Truth, and presents a point of view to which we must state serious objection. If the great enemy of the Truth be misidentified, we have a problem of considerable magnitude.

"There can be no question that the Gospel's biggest enemy in the very earliest days was not Rome but Jerusalem" (Revelation, page 75, H.A.W.).

It must be obvious to most readers at this point in our consideration of the Apocalypse that we are not dealing with the very earliest days but with the later apostolic era. The very earliest days would be the time of Christ and the early ministry of the apostles. But whether the Apocalypse was written in A.D. 66 or A.D. 95, it was written to ecclesias existing in a Gentile world, upon whom Jerusalem had no direct influence. These ecclesias faced two crises of the utmost gravity. The opening chapters of the Revelation testify to both of these real crises: severe persecution from Gentile sources 1 and a growing apostasy.2

The growth and influence of gnosticism during the late apostolic period was perhaps the greatest evil the disciples had to face. Attempts to blend Christian doctrine with a variety of theosophical ideas posed the most severe threat to the gospel. Paganism, astrology, Platonism, hellenized Zoroastrianism, Judaism, magic - these were all exerting their influence.3 False teachings characterized by the terms Balaam (a non-Jew who caused Israel to sin) and Jezebel (a Zidonian who promoted Baal worship in Israel) had found their way into the ecclesia (Rev. 2: 14, 20; Num. 31: 16; 1 Kings 16: 31). There is a striking parallel in the way in which both Israel in the Old Testament and the first century Ecclesia were defiled by heathen beliefs and practices.

It is true that in several New Testament books a considerable emphasis is placed upon the danger of the Judaizing influence in the ecclesias at that time. It may be wondered why the ecclesias were not given more warning of the threat of pagan philosophies, since these would be the ultimate corrupting influence at the end of the century and beyond. The apostles were not remiss. They performed well their work of establishing the foundation of the Truth as it is in Jesus. It was necessary that the teaching of Christ be thoroughly clarified with respect to the Old Testament. The work and influence of the apostles was such that Judaistic teaching within the ecclesias was rendered ineffective by the end of their ministry. They had not overlooked the threat of pagan influences, and they warned of the pernicious enemy to be revealed. The apostle John would have been especially aware of this threat, writing when and where he did, and his epistles indicate this.4 It is the primary concern of the Apocalypse.

The Revelation was to serve the same purpose for the followers of Christ as the Old Testament prophetic writings had done for the people of Israel. It had to warn and prepare the Ecclesia for the long journey through the darkness that lay ahead. John was ministering to Gentile ecclesias which were rushing headlong into the fires of persecution and apostasy. It is hardly reasonable to suppose that he would now turn his attention back to the Jews. They and their nation had already been set aside following their rejection of the Messiah.

It is impossible to accept that all the elaborately symbolic visions of the Apocalypse - chapter after chapter - refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Inasmuch as this event had already been foretold by Jesus himself in plain, simple language, such a revelation was not required. Even had the Apocalypse been written before that holocaust, it would have been redundant and of little real help to Gentile ecclesias facing a holocaust of their own. The great antagonist of the apostolic Ecclesia at the time when John was writing was not Jerusalem, already fading into oblivion. The great enemy of the Ecclesia was the pagan Roman system. And looking to the future, as the apostle was enabled to do, the greatest enemy of the Truth was the Roman Catholic system. This is a fact of history that persisted for at least a thousand years. Jerusalem, as a persecutor, was replaced by pagan Rome which would in turn give way to an apostate Christendom. The latter became the most formidable foe the people of God have had to face.

1 Rev. 1: 9 (John exiled by Caesar); 2: 10 ("devil shall cast some of you into prison" - Only the Roman authorities had the power to imprison.); ("tribulation ten days" - persecution under Trajan, 110-120 A.D.).

2 Rev. 2: 2 (those who "say they are apostles and are not"); 2: 5 ("I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place").

3 Chadwick, The Early Church, Ch. 2, p. 35.

4 1 John 2: 18, 26; 4: 1-3; 2 John vv. 7-11.