PART II
THE IDENTITY OF BABYLON

A FINAL WORD

The ministry of the prophets of Israel continued for hundreds of years; the witness of the apostles lasted for less than a century. And when that witness ended, when the last apostle had fallen asleep, the silence was great indeed. God's precious Truth had been given to the Gentiles, and they proved even less capable of maintaining it than the Jews. Within an unbelievably short period of time basic elements of the true gospel had been replaced by pagan sophistries: belief in the immortal soul, demonism, confused teachings about God and the nature of Christ. The Apocalypse itself fell into disfavor with many prominent men in the Church and was for a time in danger of being excised from the New Testament canon. Its symbolism was no longer understood, and its millennial teaching had become incompatible with Christian thought. At the council of Laodicea, in the fourth century, representatives from the very churches to whom the Revelation had been addressed questioned its veracity.

Believers who have lived and endured through the centuries - those of whom we have records - have taken the sinister symbols of the Revelation to be referring to the established Church. The twelfth century Albigensians, for instance, "rejected the cross as a symbol not of redemption but of torture and degradation. They rejected all veneration of saints and martyrs, whose relics they regarded as hardly different from sticks and stones. They rejected, above all, the Church of Rome, which they attacked as the betrayer of Christianity. They likened it to the Antichrist, and to the whore of Babylon." 1

The Apocalypse would serve to give hope to God's people in whatever situation they should find themselves. Interspersed between its somber visions were the wonderful scenes of future glory when the Lamb is enthroned upon Mount Zion. This purpose it continues to serve today; it is still efficacious to strengthen the hearts of the faithful. It assures us that there is a Master Plan, and that God's purpose is progressing on schedule. Its fulfillments are a matter of record; that which is revealed of the future will surely come to pass.

A central theme in the Apocalypse is the development of the pernicious enemy of the saints. A correct identification of the symbols of Revelation which pertain to this great adversary is requisite to a satisfactory comprehension of the book. It is all the more imperative because the archenemy almost always takes on the guise of a friend. The counterfeit employs every means at his disposal to resemble the true, so that, if possible, even the elect might be seduced. 2

Our pioneer brethren were familiar with both the preterist and the futurist interpretations of the Revelation, and they considered it necessary that they be rejected. A wrong understanding, they believed, would leave us vulnerable to the false teachings of the enemy whom the Apocalypse reveals.

"A correct understanding of the Apocalypse is of more importance than may at first sight appear.
(1) It was given 'that his servants MIGHT KNOW the things it speaks of; and if a wrong view of it prevails, the object of its communication is to that extent frustrated.
(2) The Spirit pronounces a blessing on those who understand it ...
(3) Jesus pronounces a curse on those who take away from its words; and no one takes away from them more effectually than the man who misrepresents its meaning." 3

"Over a dozen times it is written in the Apocalypse: 'He that hath ears let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches'. Jesus says, 'My sheep hear my voice.' He identifies the Apocalypse with his voice in saying: 'I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify these things in the churches'. Thus the Apocalypse is an important part of the Shepherd's voice ...

"Among the 'words of the book of this prophecy' is a heavy warning against participation with a system described under the symbol of a beast and his image: 'If any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark on his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.' ..." 4

"Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book" (Rev. 22: 7).

1 Friedrich, The End of the World, A History, "The Birth of the Inquisition", p. 70.

2 Matt. 24: 24; 2 Cor. 11: 14; 2 Thess. 2: 9-10.

4 Robert Roberts, The Christadelphian, November, 1897, pp.467-468.