Bible Readings for the Home Circle Part 68

"Because _she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication_." Same verse, last part.

3. How was the overthrow of ancient Babylon foretold?

"And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees'

excellency, shall be _as when G.o.d overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah_." Isa.

13:19.

4. What call was made to come out of Babylon?

"_Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity_; for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance; He will render unto her a recompense." Jer. 51:6.

5. What did ancient Babylon do to all the nations?

"Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that _made all the earth drunken_: the nations have drunken of her _wine_; therefore the nations are _mad_." Verse 7.

6. What was the effect of this apostasy?

"Babylon is _suddenly fallen and destroyed_: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed." Verse 8.

7. Just before the fall of Babylon, what did her king do?

"Belshazzar the king _made a great feast_ to a thousand of his lords, and _drank wine_ before the thousand." Dan. 5:1.

8. By what command did the king repudiate the religion taught in Babylon by Daniel and others who feared G.o.d?

"Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein." Verse 2.

9. What marked the climax of Babylon's apostasy?

"Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of G.o.d which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them." Verse 3.

10. While drinking the wine, what G.o.ds did they honor?

"They drank wine, and _praised the G.o.ds of gold, and of silver, of bra.s.s, of iron, of wood, and of stone_." Verse 4.

11. What immediately followed this complete apostasy?

"In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old."

Verses 30, 31.

NOTE.-The gospel of the kingdom was preached in Babylon (see reading on "The Gospel of the Kingdom," page 209), and Nebuchadnezzar was brought to acknowledge and to wors.h.i.+p the true G.o.d. But after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon relapsed into idolatry again, and this apostasy was rendered hopeless when Belshazzar used the sacred vessels from the house of G.o.d, dedicated to the wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d, in which to drink the wine of Babylon while wors.h.i.+p was offered to the false G.o.ds. Then came the handwriting on the wall, and the fall of ancient Babylon.

12. In the visions of John, what interpretation is given to the woman who sat upon many waters?

"And the woman which thou sawest _is that great city_, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Rev. 17:18.

NOTE.-The great city which reigned over the kings of the earth in John's time was Rome, and that city has given its name to the church which is represented by the woman, the Church of Rome, or the Papacy.

13. In this same prophecy, how is the Church of Rome, the Papacy, designated as the ant.i.type of ancient Babylon?

"And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." Verse 5.

14. What specific statement emphasizes this identification?

"With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." Verse 2. See verse 4.

NOTES.-The Church of Rome is called Babylon, and its religion is a revival of the religion of ancient Babylon. She claims a priesthood with exceptional powers and privileges, just as did ancient Babylon. Through the dogma of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, she denies that G.o.d in Christ dwelt in the same flesh as fallen man has, just as ancient Babylon did. See Dan.

2:11. She claims universal spiritual jurisdiction, and demands submission under pains and penalties, just as ancient Babylon did.

See Daniel 3. She repudiates the fundamental gospel truth of justification by faith, and boasts of works, just as ancient Babylon did. See Dan. 4:30. A careful comparison of the ritual of ancient and modern Babylon shows that the latter is copied from the former; and it is easy to trace the connection historically through the paganism of political Rome.

On the overthrow of Babylon by the Persians, who nourished a traditional hatred for its idolatry, the Chaldean priesthood fled to Pergamos, in Asia Minor, and made it the headquarters of their religion.... The last pontiff king of Pergamos was Attalus III, who at his death bequeathed his dominions and authority to the Roman people, 133 B.C., and from that time the two lines of Pontifex Maximus were merged in the Roman one.-_"__The False Christ,__"__ J. Garnier, London, George Allen, 1900, Vol. II, pages 94, 95._ Thus did the religion of ancient Babylon become the religion of modern Babylon.

15. What did Jesus say of the sacramental wine?

"This cup is the new covenant in My blood." Luke 22:20, R. V.

16. What is the essential teaching of the new covenant?

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; _I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts_: and I will be to them a G.o.d, and they shall be to Me a people." Heb. 8:10.

17. When Christ thus ministers the law in the heart, what does it become?

"For _the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus_ hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, G.o.d sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:2-4.

18. In what other statement is this same truth expressed?

"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63.

19. What kind of teaching have men subst.i.tuted for the words which are spirit and life?

"Howbeit in vain do they wors.h.i.+p Me, _teaching for doctrines the commandments of men_.... And He said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of G.o.d, that ye may keep your own _tradition_." Mark 7:7-9.

NOTES.-There are two cups, the cup of the Lord and the cup of Babylon. The wine in the Lord's cup represents the living truth, "as the truth is in Jesus;" the wine in the cup of Babylon represents her false doctrines, her subst.i.tution of human tradition for the living word and law of G.o.d, and the illicit connection which she has made between the church and the secular power, depending upon political power to enforce her teachings, rather than upon the power of G.o.d. By this very thing, while maintaining a form of G.o.dliness, she denies the power thereof. 2 Tim. 3:1-5.

The following quotation states the position of that church in regard to tradition: "Though these two divine streams [the Bible and tradition] are in themselves, on account of their divine origin, of equal sacredness, and are both full of revealed truths, still, of the two, tradition is to us more clear and safe."-_"__Catholic Belief,__"__ Rev. Joseph Faa Di Bruno, D. D.

(Roman Catholic), page 45._

The subst.i.tution of the law of the church for the law of G.o.d, in fulfilment of the prophecy in Dan. 7:25, testifies to the complete subordination of the Word of G.o.d to the authority of the church.

The world-wide teaching of these doctrines in place of the pure gospel has led the world astray, and has made all the nations drink of the wine of her fornication. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was an effort to return to the pure truths of G.o.d's Word. In this the Reformers denied the supremacy of tradition over the Bible.