terpiece, the counterfeit of the New Jerusalem that comes down from above. There are two cities in Revelation. Man is building his Babylon by education, legislation, reformation. Henry Drummond said: “ Any city is the New Jeru salem if we but make it so.” “Behold the dream! It can not be A false report the prophets see; They grasp the starry dim surmise Because they see with clearer eyes The Holy City coming down, A cleaner, better Every- town!” But the Holy City does not come that way. Babylon is built from below. God works from above, whether in the new birth or the Spirit of the wisdom He imparts. We are living in Baby lon right now, the last chapter of the drama started at Babel and
Babylon became one of the most fabulous cities of all time and the mother of pagan religion that persists to this day. Its mystery cults have permeated this world in changing variations from the gods of Egypt, Greece and Rome into paganism mixed with Chris tianity glaringly evident (espe cially at Christmas and Easter) unto this hour. Babylon is not a memory out of antiquity; it is a present world order. We live in the middle of it and the worst is yet to come. John on Patmos saw a vision of a harlot riding a scar- let-colored beast. They represent the final Babylon, ecclesiastical and political, the final amalgama tion of collectivized humanity-into a world church and world state under Antichrist. The harlot is Satan’s counterfeit of the church, the bride of Christ. Recently a magazine carried a lengthy arti cle on the Coming Church. I thanked God that I won’t be here when it comes. Political Babylon is Satan’s imitation o f the King dom of God, man’s last civic mas
h U a a c e ^ M a < j a e > o O l d n a m e s are sometimes giv en to new places. 0. Henry called New York “Bagdad On The Subway.” A book about Calvin Coolidge was titled “ Puritan In Babylon.” Coolidge was some thing of a Puritan and Washing ton is not unlike Babylon. The name of Babylon runs through the Bible from Genesis to Revela tion. The story of Babylon from start to finish (and we haven’t reached the finish yet) is one of the most amazing records in the annals of mankind. It starts with Babel where men tried to build a tower to heaven. The history of mankind is wrapped in three “Let us” passages in Genesis. God said, “ Let us make man in our own image.” Man said, “Let us build us a city and a tower and let us make us a name.” Then God said, “Let us go down and there con found their language.” That is history in a nutshell!
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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