PART II
THE IDENTITY OF BABYLON

THE WRATH OF GOD

"In all this there is a strong suggestion that the trumpet visions, soon to follow, have to do with divine retribution and chastisement of Israel in the First Century and in the last days" (Revelation, p. 106, H.A.W.).

There have been two great apostasies, Jewish and Christian. The latter has turned the truth of God into a lie, beginning with the very nature of the Creator Himself, and has exercised itself in the persecution of the faithful from the third century until now. There were judgments upon Israel, as her prophets foretold; the Revelation speaks of similar judgments upon the Christian apostasy. The bride turned whore is not to pass through history unaffected by any judgments of God, while Israel suffers continual anguish and punishment for her sins.

The trumpet visions are mainly concerned with divine retribution and chastisement of apostate Christendom. According to the account in the Revelation, these visions describe the judgments to be poured out upon mankind (Gk. anthropos). "The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot either see or hear or walk; nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their immorality or their thefts" (Rev. 9: 20-21 RSV).

The admonitions of the Apocalypse were addressed to the seven churches of Asia - seven ecclesias representing the entire community of believers. The Revelation was given to the first century Ecclesia for counsel and for warning. If they failed to heed this warning they would suffer God's rejection as had the Jews in the destruction of their nation and the dispersion of their people. Israel had already been rejected. The Apocalypse was given so that the Gentile ecclesias would not suffer the same fate as their Jewish counterparts.

"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel." The commission had been given to the disciples and had been carried out by them with all diligence and in the spirit and power of their Lord. The word was preached and it produced a community of believers enlightened by it and responsible to it. The lapse into apostasy by the greater part of the Ecclesia did not relieve that community of a collective responsibility. Its continued rejection of the Truth would make it liable to these judgments upon "mankind".

...