I have always wondered if God can move in all circumstances, if the state of man mattered much before coming to God.
God is not bound to anything, not the traditions of men or the devices of the world and its point of view. But he remains sovereign, throughout it all, and for all eternity. We are the subjects who are bound to one form or another, always shrinking away from our faith, being persuaded, that the ordinances are better and needed to know Christ. Whereas in fact they show but a little faith in that in and of itself will lead to death if not through Christ purposed to his Glory.
Consider the centurion man who was not a believer, but had good works, yet the lord headed his request which was that he's slave may be healed. The Lord moves as he wishes, as he wills it to be.
The unbelieving Samaritan was shown as a believer by how he acted and not by what he was seen to be which was a gentile. But by God's grace, thus acting upon his life, revealing to us who he truly was in Christ; he's God given nature, to care for his neighbour, which was placed upon his heart. This new nature compels him to love his neighbour and care about him. To seek to learn that good which we did not know before, in the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we believe.
Amen
Eph 4.17-32
.." 17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!- 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind... "
Jema, thank you for asking. I have repeatedly tried to directly respond but it is not going through. I will try again and if it won't go through please place my name whenever you read 1 Corinthians 11:15 Thank you and God bless you.
Genesis 13:14-17 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the LAND which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed FOR EVER. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an INHERITANCE, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the LAND OF PROMISE, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the HEIRS with him of the SAME PROMISE: For he looked for a CITY WHICH HATH FOUNDATIONS, whose BUILDER AND MAKER IS GOD.
Hebrews 11:13-18 These all died in faith, not having received the PROMISES, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were STRANGERS and PILGRIMS on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a BETTER COUNTRY , that is, an HEAVENLY: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God:
Hebrews 11:39,40 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
The Promise of the Land, the Inheritance, the City, is the Kingdom of God, New Heavens and New Earth which are, ETERNAL, FOR EVER. It is not a piece of property on this sin-cursed earth which will be destroyed.
God is good all the time I just love the lord I know God hears my prayers and I'm never alone because if my God he's turned my life around i went from being an addict to a recoverying addict thank u lord god
covetous and proud oppressors, you are rasede out of the Scriptures and saints' conditions and are found amongst the heathen. You fighters, quarrellers and violent persons, who live in strife and contention, suing one another for carnal things, you are condemned by the Scriptures and shut out of them. You wanton lustful ones who live to the flesh in your sports and pleasures, you are witnessed against by the Scriptures and have no right in them. And you hypocritical professors of all sorts and forms, who have got the saints' words and worshipsf in notion and form, but live not the life of saints, nor led by that Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures and by which the saints were guided and sanctified, you have naught to do with the Scriptures; they were not given out to imitate and jangle upon, but to be fulfilled: not to talk on and live in the world's ways, words and customs and fashions in your own wills, lusts and pleasures; for they that spoke them forth were come out of the world and did witness against all the ways and worships of it; and they spoke notg other men's words from the letter, ash you do; nor did they imitatei other men's practice, but by the eternal spirit were they guided into the
piritual worship, and by that spirit did they speak forth the Scripture; not to the world or formal professors, butj to such as had denied the world, and had given themselves up to be guided by the holy Spirit in holy ways: and they spoke their own conditions, and their own measures, holding forth to others, what they had received of God, and not what others had received; and their kingdom stood not in words but in power. And here are you shut out of the Scriptures and their conditions, who say and do not, and your kingdom is in words, and not in life and power; you hypocrites, and formal imitators, who worship by what you imagine and conceive from other men's words, but have it not from the same Spirit that they had. You are shut out of the Scriptures, and they witness against you and your imagined ways and worships. You that preach and pray, and not by the movings of the Spirit of God, you are shut out of the Scriptures, and your invented words and long prayers are condemned by them to be heathenish; and all your ordinances, your singing and sacraments which are not in
the same Spirit, is condemned by the Scriptures; and whatever you do in your worshipsk to God, and not in the power and guiding of the same eternal Spirit, the Scriptures witness against you and your worship, and declares you to be led by al contrary spirit, which is not the same, and you are among the heathen who worship in vain, and receives no acceptance from God, for you receive for doctrines the commandments of men, & your fear towards God is taught by the precepts of men, & not by the Spirit, & what you have is by tradition; and here you are shut out of the Scriptures. Wherefore cease your tattling of other men's conditions inm the scriptures, and see what right yourselves have in them; and mind to see what you are, and what the saints were, and apply your own conditions and promises to yourselves, and not other men's.n And cease your stealing, you thieves that have found out other ways to climb up, and not in at the door by which the saints have always entered, for all that come in at the door witness against you and your stoleno words and forms; and by that Spirit that leads in at the door are you discovered to be thieves, and judgment is coming against you, and you shall restore fourfold for all you have stolen and shall be brought to poverty for all your riches, and youp first shall be last of all
And you hirelings and parish masters who bear rule by your means over your hearers, what have you to do to talk of the Scriptures, as to declare the statutes of the Almighty, since you hate to be reformed or to come into their condition that gave them forth: you trade in the letter for gain but are not conformable to them that spoke it forth; it was not given forth by any that made a gain of it for carnal ends to get riches; no, they that gave it forth bare witness against your generation, to be hirelings, covetous, proud boasters, greedy dumb dogs, idol shepherds that could never have enough, belly-gods, such whose teachings never brought any to the knowledge of the truth. Ravening wolves in sheep's clothing, who had the form but not the power; now what have you to do with the Scripture or the saints
conditions,q to talk them over to people for money, you are shut out of the Scripturesr; cease your stealing that which was other men's, and take your own in the Scriptures, which are the woes and plagues pronounced against your generation by them who gave forth the Scripture, and sell that to your hearers, for the saints conditions you are strangers to, and you have no inheritance in them but are found without, amongst them who professed the letter but were enemies to that Spirit that gave it forth; and you are found doing the same works now, stirring up the powers of the earth against them in whom that Spirit is manifest; as did your fathers, so do you, and fill up their measure, that upon you may come the sufferings of all the holy men of God. And here you are shut out of the Scriptures and are ignorant of that Spirit that gave them forth and the ends for which they were written; and you take those promises that were given to holy men, and
you apply them to such as live in theirs filthiness; and those Scriptures that were written to warn people from sin, you take and wrest to make people believe that they shall never be set free from sin while they live; and thus being ignorant of that Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures, you are led by a contrary spirit and so contradict the Holy Spirit; and God in wisdom hath hid the mystery of the Scripture from that spirit that acts in you, and hath shut it out and you with it. And hence it is that when you meddle with the Scriptures you are in such confusion and sets one scripture against another, and then twine and wrest and add to your own invented meanings to reconcile them again; but they who are guided by the same Spirit that gave them forth sees your folly, and that the Scriptures are at unity, and so are all that come into them to live the life of them in their measures, but you are without the life of them, and your kingdom stands in words and not in power and therefore is confused, and you lead into confusion all that follows you. Wherefore all you that fear the Lord, mind not words but the power, and believe not men because they run rambling up and down the Scriptures, but see what right they have in them, which is no more than they live the life of them; for while you follow these you are kept out of the kingdom of God, and feed upon words and wind; but the kingdom of God consists not in words, but in power and life.
Babylon the Great Desribed is present day Christinity,
it doesn't take away one sins, meaning one continue in it for life, turning the Grace of God into lasciviousness
it doesn't comform one to the image of His Son, the Divine Nature, having escape the corruption of this world through lust
& it leaves one, one with the world, in the lust of the flesh, eyes & the pride of life of this world.
it feed one from the knowledge of the tree of good and evil, the wisdom that from below, for instance Jesse teaching & not from the Fountain of the Spirit that comes from the Tree of Life, the Lord God from heaven, who is the Life, Spirit & Substance of all things
Once we die our spirit is no longer confined to time as we understand it. God is outside of timeonce our earthly body dies, our consciousness is immediately outside of time with the Lord. We aren't waiting for our children to grow old and come be with us, those of our loved ones who go on living after we die will be with us at that instant. It's a hard concept to comprehend because we are so aware of "time" in this lifewe obsess over it, but the moment we leave this mortal plane and enter eternity, "time" will no longer exist as we perceive it now. Our bodies sleeping in the graves is from the point of view of those who are still living on this side of eternity. That's the way I understand it
Therefore all people wait humbly for the candle of the Lord, that therewith ye may search out Babylon, and may come to see what of her treasures ye have gathered; that ye may throw them away speedily, and give up your ships and vessels (wherewith ye have trafficked for these kinds of wares) to the fire of the Lord's jealousy; that ye may receive the durable riches; that ye may hear the joyful sound of the everlasting gospel, and know the true Christ which it alone reveals; and come to fear and worship and glorify the true God; and not go down into the pit or lake with the dragon, the beast, the whore, and false prophet, which will be the portion of the most zealous false worshippers. And when your eyes come once to be opened in the true light, ye will bless the Lord for giving you these warnings, and not be so angry at us (who have paid dear for them) for our willingness, if it be possible, to save you some of the charges they have cost us: however, at least to preserve your souls from that ruin and dreadful destruction which all the paths of Babylon lead to.
But now Sion is redeeming, the true woman bringing back again out of the wilderness, she brings back the true, everlasting gospel with her; and there is an angel chosen in the power of the Lord (even in the same power and spirit that first preached it) to preach it again to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. And the Lord hath so ordered it, that he will have the voice of this angel as despicable to the wise in religion, to the zealous in devotion, of all sorts in this backsliding age, as the former preaching was to the wise and devout both among the Jews and Greeks. So that whosoever is wise in religion according to the flesh; whosoever is wise in expectation and waitings for the kingdom; whosoever is wise in reasoning about it, and can tell the foregoing signs of it, &c., shall not know the voice: but he that can shut his eyes by the leadings of the pure life, and enter into the hidden womb of wisdom, where the light of life is sown, he shall be new formed, and come forth a child out of the womb of wisdom, with the new eye, the new ear, the new heart, the new understanding and senses; and keeping in the childish simplicity, out of the wisdom, zeal, and devotion which deceived him before, he shall receive and enter into the everlasting kingdom.
Now all this time, while Babylon stands, while antichrist sits in the temple, while Satan reigns over all the antichristian world, the true and living God hath not been known, feared, nor glorified; but men's knowledge hath been of a false god they have set up, and him they have feared, and given the glory to, in their worship. Nay, the gospel hath not been preached; the true gospel, the everlasting gospel, the gospel wherein is the light and power of eternal life, to turn men from all antichristian forms of knowledge and worship, to the true life and power: but when Babylon falls, and Mount Sion begins to appear again, then the gospel is to be preached again, even by an angel, who receiveth it from God himself, Rev. 14:6-7. for man could never recover it again: it requires a new inspiration. "The law is to go forth out of Sion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." And this gospel is to be preached "to every nation, kindred, and tongue, and people," ver. 6. Mark: there was not one nation, not one kindred, not one tongue, not one people that kept the everlasting gospel; but it was laid up in Sion; it was carried with the church into the wilderness, and there it hath been hid all the time of the apostasy, since the days of the apostles
The dragon is the devil; the beast is that spirit of the earth which he raiseth up, and feeds in men with a form and appearance of truth; to which he gives his power, his seat, and his authority: and every man hath a measure of this according to his state and condition, place and service in Babylon. And now what a man doeth here in religion, be he ever so devout and zealous, and frequent in ordinances and duties, is the worship of this spirit, and of the dragon who sits and rules in this spirit. I am run into hard expressions, very hard, because the nature of these things is hid from men's eyes, and they are in the mist of antichrist's raising, in the smoke which comes from the pit, where there is no opening of the true eye, and no true sight of things; but truly if ever you espy the dragon, the beast, antichrist, the whore, the false prophet, ye must look at home, and read within; and there having found the thing, and seen it in the true light, ye will be able to see it certainly abroad also. Now do not go about to distinguish these things in the notion of the understanding; but come to feel the life, to unite with the life, and the eye will open which can see into the nature of things, and will behold all in its season; for that eye which is so eager to see, shall never see these things; but that eye alone which waits in stillness and quietness on the pleasure and good-will of the opener.
And as antichrist got up thus, so antichrist will go out thus. He will raise up this power, and what lying signs, wonders, and miracles he can, to defend himself with, now the spirit of the Lord is risen up to dispossess him, and cast him out of the house which he hath long lodged in. And he that can be cozened with power, with signs, with lying wonders, (which are lying because they come from the spirit of deceit, with an intent to deceive, though they may come to pass, and appear true to man's eye. Deut. 13:1-3) or with any of the deceivableness of unrighteousness, shall never come out of Babylon; but only be translated into some of the more refined chambers of it, and fed with some more fresh likenesses of truth, where he shall still remain an inhabitant and worshipper in some image, perhaps of universal love, life, and liberty, and yet be out of the life, out of the love, out of the liberty of the truth, which stands in the power and presence of the spirit of God, and not in the most refined image or likeness.
"All the world wondered after the beast, and they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast." Rev. 13:3-4.
Now mark this: antichrist's coming, when first perceived, was very mighty, exceeding strong. 2 Thes. 2:9-10. "Whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness," &c. Weigh the thing well. Satan used all his art, and all his strength, to conceive and bring forth this mystery of iniquity, so like the mystery of godliness, that it might pass for current in the world, and he rule as God in it. With all power, &c., no power of deceit wanting; he did not spare for signs, and lying wonders; yea, he gave power to the beast to do wonders and miracles, even to make fire come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men (which was the sign and wonder whereby the God of Israel was distinguished from Baal; power to work this very sign Satan gives to the beast, to confirm the godhead of the dragon and antichrist with). Rev. 13:13-14. These are the things men look for; see but great power, signs, miracles, they are satisfied. The whole world stands ready to be deceived with this. Yea, and if the eye be not opened in persons, which can distinguish of power, they must needs be deceived. Signs, wonders, and miracles had their place in the first covenant, and were to that part to which the first covenant was; not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. Now after the full demonstration of the truth by signs and miracles, the power of Satan riseth up; and by lying signs, wonders, and miracles overturneth the truth. Now the unbelieving part in man expects and calls for signs and miracles, and says they will determine the controversy, and settle the state of the church again; but that part is not to prescribe God his way; yea, he will steal as a thief upon thee, whose eye is abroad, and looketh for demonstrations without.
And this city is a great city, a city spread over all the earth. "She made all nations drink of the wine of the cup of her fornication." Rev. 14:8. The woman, which is this city ( Rev. 17:18), "sat upon peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Rev. 17:15. She sat upon them as queen, as princess, guiding them in their knowledge and worship of the king of Babylon. And those that once hated her, and made war with her, and burnt her flesh with fire, she cozened them with a new paint, got them into her new bed of fornication, and made them worship the king of Babylon again, Rev. 17:12-13. and ver. 16-17. and there they lay committing whoredom with her, till the time of her last burning and utter desolation; but then they forsook her, for fear of her torment, when they saw the smoke of her burning. Rev. 18:9-10.
And it is a spiritual city, a mystical city, a city built by the working of the mystery of iniquity, 2 Thes. 2:7. whereupon she is called mystery. Rev. 17:5. It is not a city of plain wickedness, but a city of sin hid; of sin keeping its life under a covering, under a form of godliness; of sin reigning in the heart under zeal, under devotion, under praying, believing, worshipping, hoping, waiting, &c. Where sin lies hid within under these, there is Babylon; there is the mystery of witchcraft; there is the painted throne of Satan; there is spiritual Egypt and Sodom, where the Lord of life is daily crucified. This is the city, the mystical city, the spiritual city. Rev. 11:8. And here is building up and throwing down continually. She builds; the spirit of the Lord confounds, then down goes her building; then up with another, then down again. This is her course without end, when the spirit of the Lord disturbs her; for otherwise she can settle in any form of knowledge or worship; though in her ordinary course she hath also many changes and turnings; one while this or that being a truth, another while not; one while this or that being the sense or meaning of such a scripture, another while not. Babylon is hardly ever without this kind of building up, and throwing down.
Now, because ye are more able to receive things from scripture expressions, than from the nature of the thing itself, spoken as it is felt in the heart (concerning which much more might be said, were ye able to bear it), consider a few scriptures.
Babylon is called a great city, Rev. 16:19. and a great and mighty city. chap. 18:10. Oh, the power of deceit in that city, to bewitch from the life! Oh, the multitude of lying wonders that are there shown in the heart, to make a man believe that he is in the life! to persuade men that the king thereof is the king of Sion! and that the laws, and ordinances of worship there, are the laws and ordinances of Sion! that the prayer there, is the prayer of the true child! that the believing there, is the true faith! the love there, the true love! the hope there, the true hope, &c. Some parts of Babylon, some likenesses of truth there, are so taking, that none but the elect, by the opening of the eternal eye, can espy the deceit.
7. The end of all this, of Satan's building up this city, this great city (thus accurately in the power of deceit, and in the very likeness of Sion) was, and is, that it might be taken for Sion, and be worshipped there as God, and that without jealousy or suspicion. And he hath attained his end; his city hath deceived and doth deceive, it passeth current for Sion among all the inhabitants of Babylon; almost every sort of people cry it up for Sion, in one appearance or other, though all do not cry up the same appearance; but their own image, way, and worship, every one extols; their own image of the truth, for the truth; their own way of worship, for the way; their own church and family, for the church and family of God. And worshipping here, they worship him, and not the Lord: for the Lord cannot be worshipped in any part of Babylon; but the king of Babylon is worshipped in Babylon, and the king of Sion alone in Sion. Ah! how deeply do men deceive their souls! they think they believe in God, they think they pray to God, and hope to be owned at length by God, and yet are so far from coming out of mystery Babylon, that it was never yet so much as discovered to them; but they have either walked in the way of religion and worship they were brought up in, in the apostasy, or perhaps have removed out of one or two of the broad streets of it, and so thereby think they have left Babylon; whenas the same spirit hath set down in another street of the same city, building up another house by the direction of the king thereof, and there worshipping the same spirit as they did before; but their souls never knew the fire in Sion, and the furnace in Jerusalem; by which the very inwards of their spirits must be cleansed, before the pure eye of life be opened which can see Sion.
6. This city was built (and is daily built) in imitation of Sion, painted just like Sion. The intent of its building was to eat out Sion, to suppress Sion, to withdraw from the truth by a false image, and to keep her inhabitants in peace and satisfaction, under a belief and hope that it is the true Sion; and therefore it must needs be made like Sion, else it could no way suit these ends. Every street must be like the streets of Sion; every house, like the houses of Sion; every tribe and family, like the tribes and families of Sion; every person, like the persons in Sion; all the laws, ordinances, &c., like the laws and ordinances of Sion; the worship, like the worship in Sion; the faith, like the faith of Sion; the painted Christ, like the Christ of Sion; all that go for truths, like the truths of Sion; they would not deceive else; Babylon would be soon seen through else, and become quickly desolate and forsaken, did she not lay her paint very thick, and with great art and skill. Now here is the wisdom, here is the true eye tried, to see through all the paints of this city, in all the shapes and forms of it; to turn from every street, every house, every chamber, every image and false appearance of truth; every false appearance of ordinances and ways of worship; every likeness of things which this spirit forms from the letter; every duty that it thus calls for; every promise of scripture which it endeavors to apply to that to which it belongs not, that it might lull the soul asleep, and cozen and deceive it of the thing promised; here, I say, is the true eye tried to turn from all this, and to wait for the raising and redeeming of the true seed of Sion, and for the springing up of the true life and power in it and from it: for as long as this spirit can deceive you with any likeness, ye shall never know the truth, nor come to the worship of the true, living God, which alone is in the spirit, and in the truth.
5. It is the city of the king of darkness, of the great king of darkness, of the prince of the power of the air, who rules universally in the darkness, in the mystery of iniquity throughout, even in every heart. Wherever is sin, there is Satan's throne; and there he hath his laws, his government, his power, in every heart of his dominion. And where there is the least subjection to him, he is yet a prince; his building is not as yet there wholly thrown down; he is not there as yet dispossessed and cast out. As long as there is any thing left wherein he may dwell, he knows his own, and keeps his hold of it. It is his right, and he will not lose it. All sin, all darkness, is properly his: it is his seat, and he hath the government there. Man is the land where these two kings fight; and whatever is good and holy belongs to the one king, and whatever is evil and unclean belongs to the other; and there is no communion or peace between them; but each keeps his own, and gathers of his own unto himself. And where the fight is once begun between these, there is no quietness in that land, till one of these be dispossessed: but then there is either the peace of Babylon, most commonly under a form of holiness; or the peace of Sion, in the spirit, life, and power.
And here, in this there is a great difference between the vessels of Sion, and the vessels of Babylon. The vessels of Sion, they are weak, earthen, foolish, contemptible to the eye of man's wisdom (which cannot look for any great matter of excellency there); but the treasure, the liquor of life in them, is precious. The vessels of Babylon make a great show, appear very holy, very heavenly, very zealous for God and Christ, and for the setting up of his church and ordinances all over the world. Thus they appear without; but they are sepulchres; there is rottenness within: under all this there lodgeth an unclean, an unsanctified heart; a heart unsubdued to the spirit and power of the gospel, while it makes such a great show of subjection and obedience to the letter.
4. It is a city of iniquity, of hidden iniquity. That which is hidden in this city, it is not the life, it is not the righteousness, the holiness of the saints; but iniquity, sin, transgression of the life. Look into any of the streets of Babylon, into any of the houses, any of the rooms, any of the chambers of darkness; there is sin there; there is unrighteousness there; there is not one cleansed heart to be found there; not one pure eye to behold the God of life is to be found there; but in every heart sin in a mystery, iniquity in a mystery, unrighteousness in a mystery. They seem to be for God and Christ, and to be cleansed by them; but uncleanness lodges in them, and sin rules in them against God, and against his Christ in a mystery; which their eye cannot see, and so must needs mistake their state. Yet this is the true state of Babylon, in all the parcels of it; it is the unclean city, where purity of heart and life cannot be known; but though it be washed and transformed ever so often outwardly, yet still it remains inwardly polluted; that which defileth keeping possession and dominion there in a mystery. The living water, the living blood, runs not in any of the streets of this city, so that there can be no true cleansing there. Nay, such strangers are the choicest inhabitants of Babylon to the fountain of life in Sion, to the river that cleanseth and healeth, that they cannot so much as believe that there is a possibility of cleansing and perfect healing, and making sound and whole here, while on earth. There is great talk of these things (of the water, the blood, the cleansing) in all the regions of Babylon (which hath heard of the fame, and forms to itself a likeness); but the thing itself is not to be found there, and so the virtue, which comes from the thing itself alone, cannot be felt there.
3. It is a great city; an overspreading city, a city that overspreads the earth. As Sion was a vast city, a city that did overspread the nations (how did the faith of the gospel over-run the world in the apostles' days!) so this city hath also over-run the world. Indeed it hath taken up the whole territories and dominions of the other city (and hath enlarged itself further), and Sion hath been laid in the dust, and trodden under foot. And though many witnesses, prophets, and martyrs, have mourned over her, yet none have been able to raise up the tabernacle of David, which hath fallen down, nor to recover Sion to this day; but Babylon hath had the power over her. Look with the true eye, and behold how all nations, kindreds, tongues, and languages, have been drunk with some or other of the mixtures of this false woman's cup (some of them over, and over, and over again), and have been inhabitants of this city, crying her up (though not all in her gross habit, but some in her more refined shapes and transformings) for the true church, for Sion; whereas, alas! she hath only Sion's dress, Sion's shape, Sion's outward garment (which is the likeness wherein she lies in wait to deceive), but not Sion's spirit.
2. It is a spiritual or mystical city. It is not an outward building of earthly materials, but an inward building of inward materials. As the outward Sion, the outward Jerusalem, is passed away in its use and service; so the outward Babylon is out of date too. (Ye need not look so far for it.) And as God hath built up an inward city, a spiritual building; so hath the king of darkness likewise. He could never have tempted from the city of the living God, from the city of the mystery of life, but by the city of the mystery of deceit. And as God builds his city of hewn stones, of squared stones, of living stones; so also hath the king of darkness his hewings, his squarings, his preparations, his qualifications for his buildings. If the light break forth, and make it appear too gross to have the whole nation a church, or to admit a whole parish to ordinances, he will gather a church out of the nation, and select some of his choicer stones out of the parish; yea, he may grasp in some of the stones of the true temple, if they come within his reach and circle; that is, if they look abroad, if they step forth, and keep not close to the anointing within, which is the great and only ordinance of the saints' preservation from antichrist's power: for if they step forth but so much as into a prayer against antichrist, out of this, they are caught in his snare, and are serving him in that very prayer, which they may seem with great earnestness and zeal to put up against him.
God is not bound to anything, not the traditions of men or the devices of the world and its point of view. But he remains sovereign, throughout it all, and for all eternity. We are the subjects who are bound to one form or another, always shrinking away from our faith, being persuaded, that the ordinances are better and needed to know Christ. Whereas in fact they show but a little faith in that in and of itself will lead to death if not through Christ purposed to his Glory.
Consider the centurion man who was not a believer, but had good works, yet the lord headed his request which was that he's slave may be healed. The Lord moves as he wishes, as he wills it to be.
The unbelieving Samaritan was shown as a believer by how he acted and not by what he was seen to be which was a gentile. But by God's grace, thus acting upon his life, revealing to us who he truly was in Christ; he's God given nature, to care for his neighbour, which was placed upon his heart. This new nature compels him to love his neighbour and care about him. To seek to learn that good which we did not know before, in the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we believe.
Amen
Eph 4.17-32
.." 17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!- 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind... "
Genesis 13:14-17 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the LAND which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed FOR EVER. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an INHERITANCE, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the LAND OF PROMISE, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the HEIRS with him of the SAME PROMISE: For he looked for a CITY WHICH HATH FOUNDATIONS, whose BUILDER AND MAKER IS GOD.
Hebrews 11:13-18 These all died in faith, not having received the PROMISES, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were STRANGERS and PILGRIMS on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a BETTER COUNTRY , that is, an HEAVENLY: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God:
Hebrews 11:39,40 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
The Promise of the Land, the Inheritance, the City, is the Kingdom of God, New Heavens and New Earth which are, ETERNAL, FOR EVER. It is not a piece of property on this sin-cursed earth which will be destroyed.
Christ "spoke in parables" Mark 4:33,34.
covetous and proud oppressors, you are rasede out of the Scriptures and saints' conditions and are found amongst the heathen. You fighters, quarrellers and violent persons, who live in strife and contention, suing one another for carnal things, you are condemned by the Scriptures and shut out of them. You wanton lustful ones who live to the flesh in your sports and pleasures, you are witnessed against by the Scriptures and have no right in them. And you hypocritical professors of all sorts and forms, who have got the saints' words and worshipsf in notion and form, but live not the life of saints, nor led by that Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures and by which the saints were guided and sanctified, you have naught to do with the Scriptures; they were not given out to imitate and jangle upon, but to be fulfilled: not to talk on and live in the world's ways, words and customs and fashions in your own wills, lusts and pleasures; for they that spoke them forth were come out of the world and did witness against all the ways and worships of it; and they spoke notg other men's words from the letter, ash you do; nor did they imitatei other men's practice, but by the eternal spirit were they guided into the
piritual worship, and by that spirit did they speak forth the Scripture; not to the world or formal professors, butj to such as had denied the world, and had given themselves up to be guided by the holy Spirit in holy ways: and they spoke their own conditions, and their own measures, holding forth to others, what they had received of God, and not what others had received; and their kingdom stood not in words but in power. And here are you shut out of the Scriptures and their conditions, who say and do not, and your kingdom is in words, and not in life and power; you hypocrites, and formal imitators, who worship by what you imagine and conceive from other men's words, but have it not from the same Spirit that they had. You are shut out of the Scriptures, and they witness against you and your imagined ways and worships. You that preach and pray, and not by the movings of the Spirit of God, you are shut out of the Scriptures, and your invented words and long prayers are condemned by them to be heathenish; and all your ordinances, your singing and sacraments which are not in
the same Spirit, is condemned by the Scriptures; and whatever you do in your worshipsk to God, and not in the power and guiding of the same eternal Spirit, the Scriptures witness against you and your worship, and declares you to be led by al contrary spirit, which is not the same, and you are among the heathen who worship in vain, and receives no acceptance from God, for you receive for doctrines the commandments of men, & your fear towards God is taught by the precepts of men, & not by the Spirit, & what you have is by tradition; and here you are shut out of the Scriptures. Wherefore cease your tattling of other men's conditions inm the scriptures, and see what right yourselves have in them; and mind to see what you are, and what the saints were, and apply your own conditions and promises to yourselves, and not other men's.n And cease your stealing, you thieves that have found out other ways to climb up, and not in at the door by which the saints have always entered, for all that come in at the door witness against you and your stoleno words and forms; and by that Spirit that leads in at the door are you discovered to be thieves, and judgment is coming against you, and you shall restore fourfold for all you have stolen and shall be brought to poverty for all your riches, and youp first shall be last of all
And you hirelings and parish masters who bear rule by your means over your hearers, what have you to do to talk of the Scriptures, as to declare the statutes of the Almighty, since you hate to be reformed or to come into their condition that gave them forth: you trade in the letter for gain but are not conformable to them that spoke it forth; it was not given forth by any that made a gain of it for carnal ends to get riches; no, they that gave it forth bare witness against your generation, to be hirelings, covetous, proud boasters, greedy dumb dogs, idol shepherds that could never have enough, belly-gods, such whose teachings never brought any to the knowledge of the truth. Ravening wolves in sheep's clothing, who had the form but not the power; now what have you to do with the Scripture or the saints
conditions,q to talk them over to people for money, you are shut out of the Scripturesr; cease your stealing that which was other men's, and take your own in the Scriptures, which are the woes and plagues pronounced against your generation by them who gave forth the Scripture, and sell that to your hearers, for the saints conditions you are strangers to, and you have no inheritance in them but are found without, amongst them who professed the letter but were enemies to that Spirit that gave it forth; and you are found doing the same works now, stirring up the powers of the earth against them in whom that Spirit is manifest; as did your fathers, so do you, and fill up their measure, that upon you may come the sufferings of all the holy men of God. And here you are shut out of the Scriptures and are ignorant of that Spirit that gave them forth and the ends for which they were written; and you take those promises that were given to holy men, and
you apply them to such as live in theirs filthiness; and those Scriptures that were written to warn people from sin, you take and wrest to make people believe that they shall never be set free from sin while they live; and thus being ignorant of that Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures, you are led by a contrary spirit and so contradict the Holy Spirit; and God in wisdom hath hid the mystery of the Scripture from that spirit that acts in you, and hath shut it out and you with it. And hence it is that when you meddle with the Scriptures you are in such confusion and sets one scripture against another, and then twine and wrest and add to your own invented meanings to reconcile them again; but they who are guided by the same Spirit that gave them forth sees your folly, and that the Scriptures are at unity, and so are all that come into them to live the life of them in their measures, but you are without the life of them, and your kingdom stands in words and not in power and therefore is confused, and you lead into confusion all that follows you. Wherefore all you that fear the Lord, mind not words but the power, and believe not men because they run rambling up and down the Scriptures, but see what right they have in them, which is no more than they live the life of them; for while you follow these you are kept out of the kingdom of God, and feed upon words and wind; but the kingdom of God consists not in words, but in power and life.
Babylon the Great Desribed is present day Christinity,
it doesn't take away one sins, meaning one continue in it for life, turning the Grace of God into lasciviousness
it doesn't comform one to the image of His Son, the Divine Nature, having escape the corruption of this world through lust
& it leaves one, one with the world, in the lust of the flesh, eyes & the pride of life of this world.
it feed one from the knowledge of the tree of good and evil, the wisdom that from below, for instance Jesse teaching & not from the Fountain of the Spirit that comes from the Tree of Life, the Lord God from heaven, who is the Life, Spirit & Substance of all things
Jeremiah 50:11-16
Revelation 18:4-8
in love & truth
Therefore all people wait humbly for the candle of the Lord, that therewith ye may search out Babylon, and may come to see what of her treasures ye have gathered; that ye may throw them away speedily, and give up your ships and vessels (wherewith ye have trafficked for these kinds of wares) to the fire of the Lord's jealousy; that ye may receive the durable riches; that ye may hear the joyful sound of the everlasting gospel, and know the true Christ which it alone reveals; and come to fear and worship and glorify the true God; and not go down into the pit or lake with the dragon, the beast, the whore, and false prophet, which will be the portion of the most zealous false worshippers. And when your eyes come once to be opened in the true light, ye will bless the Lord for giving you these warnings, and not be so angry at us (who have paid dear for them) for our willingness, if it be possible, to save you some of the charges they have cost us: however, at least to preserve your souls from that ruin and dreadful destruction which all the paths of Babylon lead to.
But now Sion is redeeming, the true woman bringing back again out of the wilderness, she brings back the true, everlasting gospel with her; and there is an angel chosen in the power of the Lord (even in the same power and spirit that first preached it) to preach it again to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. And the Lord hath so ordered it, that he will have the voice of this angel as despicable to the wise in religion, to the zealous in devotion, of all sorts in this backsliding age, as the former preaching was to the wise and devout both among the Jews and Greeks. So that whosoever is wise in religion according to the flesh; whosoever is wise in expectation and waitings for the kingdom; whosoever is wise in reasoning about it, and can tell the foregoing signs of it, &c., shall not know the voice: but he that can shut his eyes by the leadings of the pure life, and enter into the hidden womb of wisdom, where the light of life is sown, he shall be new formed, and come forth a child out of the womb of wisdom, with the new eye, the new ear, the new heart, the new understanding and senses; and keeping in the childish simplicity, out of the wisdom, zeal, and devotion which deceived him before, he shall receive and enter into the everlasting kingdom.
Now all this time, while Babylon stands, while antichrist sits in the temple, while Satan reigns over all the antichristian world, the true and living God hath not been known, feared, nor glorified; but men's knowledge hath been of a false god they have set up, and him they have feared, and given the glory to, in their worship. Nay, the gospel hath not been preached; the true gospel, the everlasting gospel, the gospel wherein is the light and power of eternal life, to turn men from all antichristian forms of knowledge and worship, to the true life and power: but when Babylon falls, and Mount Sion begins to appear again, then the gospel is to be preached again, even by an angel, who receiveth it from God himself, Rev. 14:6-7. for man could never recover it again: it requires a new inspiration. "The law is to go forth out of Sion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." And this gospel is to be preached "to every nation, kindred, and tongue, and people," ver. 6. Mark: there was not one nation, not one kindred, not one tongue, not one people that kept the everlasting gospel; but it was laid up in Sion; it was carried with the church into the wilderness, and there it hath been hid all the time of the apostasy, since the days of the apostles
The dragon is the devil; the beast is that spirit of the earth which he raiseth up, and feeds in men with a form and appearance of truth; to which he gives his power, his seat, and his authority: and every man hath a measure of this according to his state and condition, place and service in Babylon. And now what a man doeth here in religion, be he ever so devout and zealous, and frequent in ordinances and duties, is the worship of this spirit, and of the dragon who sits and rules in this spirit. I am run into hard expressions, very hard, because the nature of these things is hid from men's eyes, and they are in the mist of antichrist's raising, in the smoke which comes from the pit, where there is no opening of the true eye, and no true sight of things; but truly if ever you espy the dragon, the beast, antichrist, the whore, the false prophet, ye must look at home, and read within; and there having found the thing, and seen it in the true light, ye will be able to see it certainly abroad also. Now do not go about to distinguish these things in the notion of the understanding; but come to feel the life, to unite with the life, and the eye will open which can see into the nature of things, and will behold all in its season; for that eye which is so eager to see, shall never see these things; but that eye alone which waits in stillness and quietness on the pleasure and good-will of the opener.
And as antichrist got up thus, so antichrist will go out thus. He will raise up this power, and what lying signs, wonders, and miracles he can, to defend himself with, now the spirit of the Lord is risen up to dispossess him, and cast him out of the house which he hath long lodged in. And he that can be cozened with power, with signs, with lying wonders, (which are lying because they come from the spirit of deceit, with an intent to deceive, though they may come to pass, and appear true to man's eye. Deut. 13:1-3) or with any of the deceivableness of unrighteousness, shall never come out of Babylon; but only be translated into some of the more refined chambers of it, and fed with some more fresh likenesses of truth, where he shall still remain an inhabitant and worshipper in some image, perhaps of universal love, life, and liberty, and yet be out of the life, out of the love, out of the liberty of the truth, which stands in the power and presence of the spirit of God, and not in the most refined image or likeness.
"All the world wondered after the beast, and they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast." Rev. 13:3-4.
Now mark this: antichrist's coming, when first perceived, was very mighty, exceeding strong. 2 Thes. 2:9-10. "Whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness," &c. Weigh the thing well. Satan used all his art, and all his strength, to conceive and bring forth this mystery of iniquity, so like the mystery of godliness, that it might pass for current in the world, and he rule as God in it. With all power, &c., no power of deceit wanting; he did not spare for signs, and lying wonders; yea, he gave power to the beast to do wonders and miracles, even to make fire come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men (which was the sign and wonder whereby the God of Israel was distinguished from Baal; power to work this very sign Satan gives to the beast, to confirm the godhead of the dragon and antichrist with). Rev. 13:13-14. These are the things men look for; see but great power, signs, miracles, they are satisfied. The whole world stands ready to be deceived with this. Yea, and if the eye be not opened in persons, which can distinguish of power, they must needs be deceived. Signs, wonders, and miracles had their place in the first covenant, and were to that part to which the first covenant was; not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. Now after the full demonstration of the truth by signs and miracles, the power of Satan riseth up; and by lying signs, wonders, and miracles overturneth the truth. Now the unbelieving part in man expects and calls for signs and miracles, and says they will determine the controversy, and settle the state of the church again; but that part is not to prescribe God his way; yea, he will steal as a thief upon thee, whose eye is abroad, and looketh for demonstrations without.
And this city is a great city, a city spread over all the earth. "She made all nations drink of the wine of the cup of her fornication." Rev. 14:8. The woman, which is this city ( Rev. 17:18), "sat upon peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Rev. 17:15. She sat upon them as queen, as princess, guiding them in their knowledge and worship of the king of Babylon. And those that once hated her, and made war with her, and burnt her flesh with fire, she cozened them with a new paint, got them into her new bed of fornication, and made them worship the king of Babylon again, Rev. 17:12-13. and ver. 16-17. and there they lay committing whoredom with her, till the time of her last burning and utter desolation; but then they forsook her, for fear of her torment, when they saw the smoke of her burning. Rev. 18:9-10.
And it is a spiritual city, a mystical city, a city built by the working of the mystery of iniquity, 2 Thes. 2:7. whereupon she is called mystery. Rev. 17:5. It is not a city of plain wickedness, but a city of sin hid; of sin keeping its life under a covering, under a form of godliness; of sin reigning in the heart under zeal, under devotion, under praying, believing, worshipping, hoping, waiting, &c. Where sin lies hid within under these, there is Babylon; there is the mystery of witchcraft; there is the painted throne of Satan; there is spiritual Egypt and Sodom, where the Lord of life is daily crucified. This is the city, the mystical city, the spiritual city. Rev. 11:8. And here is building up and throwing down continually. She builds; the spirit of the Lord confounds, then down goes her building; then up with another, then down again. This is her course without end, when the spirit of the Lord disturbs her; for otherwise she can settle in any form of knowledge or worship; though in her ordinary course she hath also many changes and turnings; one while this or that being a truth, another while not; one while this or that being the sense or meaning of such a scripture, another while not. Babylon is hardly ever without this kind of building up, and throwing down.
Now, because ye are more able to receive things from scripture expressions, than from the nature of the thing itself, spoken as it is felt in the heart (concerning which much more might be said, were ye able to bear it), consider a few scriptures.
Babylon is called a great city, Rev. 16:19. and a great and mighty city. chap. 18:10. Oh, the power of deceit in that city, to bewitch from the life! Oh, the multitude of lying wonders that are there shown in the heart, to make a man believe that he is in the life! to persuade men that the king thereof is the king of Sion! and that the laws, and ordinances of worship there, are the laws and ordinances of Sion! that the prayer there, is the prayer of the true child! that the believing there, is the true faith! the love there, the true love! the hope there, the true hope, &c. Some parts of Babylon, some likenesses of truth there, are so taking, that none but the elect, by the opening of the eternal eye, can espy the deceit.
7. The end of all this, of Satan's building up this city, this great city (thus accurately in the power of deceit, and in the very likeness of Sion) was, and is, that it might be taken for Sion, and be worshipped there as God, and that without jealousy or suspicion. And he hath attained his end; his city hath deceived and doth deceive, it passeth current for Sion among all the inhabitants of Babylon; almost every sort of people cry it up for Sion, in one appearance or other, though all do not cry up the same appearance; but their own image, way, and worship, every one extols; their own image of the truth, for the truth; their own way of worship, for the way; their own church and family, for the church and family of God. And worshipping here, they worship him, and not the Lord: for the Lord cannot be worshipped in any part of Babylon; but the king of Babylon is worshipped in Babylon, and the king of Sion alone in Sion. Ah! how deeply do men deceive their souls! they think they believe in God, they think they pray to God, and hope to be owned at length by God, and yet are so far from coming out of mystery Babylon, that it was never yet so much as discovered to them; but they have either walked in the way of religion and worship they were brought up in, in the apostasy, or perhaps have removed out of one or two of the broad streets of it, and so thereby think they have left Babylon; whenas the same spirit hath set down in another street of the same city, building up another house by the direction of the king thereof, and there worshipping the same spirit as they did before; but their souls never knew the fire in Sion, and the furnace in Jerusalem; by which the very inwards of their spirits must be cleansed, before the pure eye of life be opened which can see Sion.
6. This city was built (and is daily built) in imitation of Sion, painted just like Sion. The intent of its building was to eat out Sion, to suppress Sion, to withdraw from the truth by a false image, and to keep her inhabitants in peace and satisfaction, under a belief and hope that it is the true Sion; and therefore it must needs be made like Sion, else it could no way suit these ends. Every street must be like the streets of Sion; every house, like the houses of Sion; every tribe and family, like the tribes and families of Sion; every person, like the persons in Sion; all the laws, ordinances, &c., like the laws and ordinances of Sion; the worship, like the worship in Sion; the faith, like the faith of Sion; the painted Christ, like the Christ of Sion; all that go for truths, like the truths of Sion; they would not deceive else; Babylon would be soon seen through else, and become quickly desolate and forsaken, did she not lay her paint very thick, and with great art and skill. Now here is the wisdom, here is the true eye tried, to see through all the paints of this city, in all the shapes and forms of it; to turn from every street, every house, every chamber, every image and false appearance of truth; every false appearance of ordinances and ways of worship; every likeness of things which this spirit forms from the letter; every duty that it thus calls for; every promise of scripture which it endeavors to apply to that to which it belongs not, that it might lull the soul asleep, and cozen and deceive it of the thing promised; here, I say, is the true eye tried to turn from all this, and to wait for the raising and redeeming of the true seed of Sion, and for the springing up of the true life and power in it and from it: for as long as this spirit can deceive you with any likeness, ye shall never know the truth, nor come to the worship of the true, living God, which alone is in the spirit, and in the truth.
Will be continue....
5. It is the city of the king of darkness, of the great king of darkness, of the prince of the power of the air, who rules universally in the darkness, in the mystery of iniquity throughout, even in every heart. Wherever is sin, there is Satan's throne; and there he hath his laws, his government, his power, in every heart of his dominion. And where there is the least subjection to him, he is yet a prince; his building is not as yet there wholly thrown down; he is not there as yet dispossessed and cast out. As long as there is any thing left wherein he may dwell, he knows his own, and keeps his hold of it. It is his right, and he will not lose it. All sin, all darkness, is properly his: it is his seat, and he hath the government there. Man is the land where these two kings fight; and whatever is good and holy belongs to the one king, and whatever is evil and unclean belongs to the other; and there is no communion or peace between them; but each keeps his own, and gathers of his own unto himself. And where the fight is once begun between these, there is no quietness in that land, till one of these be dispossessed: but then there is either the peace of Babylon, most commonly under a form of holiness; or the peace of Sion, in the spirit, life, and power.
And here, in this there is a great difference between the vessels of Sion, and the vessels of Babylon. The vessels of Sion, they are weak, earthen, foolish, contemptible to the eye of man's wisdom (which cannot look for any great matter of excellency there); but the treasure, the liquor of life in them, is precious. The vessels of Babylon make a great show, appear very holy, very heavenly, very zealous for God and Christ, and for the setting up of his church and ordinances all over the world. Thus they appear without; but they are sepulchres; there is rottenness within: under all this there lodgeth an unclean, an unsanctified heart; a heart unsubdued to the spirit and power of the gospel, while it makes such a great show of subjection and obedience to the letter.
4. It is a city of iniquity, of hidden iniquity. That which is hidden in this city, it is not the life, it is not the righteousness, the holiness of the saints; but iniquity, sin, transgression of the life. Look into any of the streets of Babylon, into any of the houses, any of the rooms, any of the chambers of darkness; there is sin there; there is unrighteousness there; there is not one cleansed heart to be found there; not one pure eye to behold the God of life is to be found there; but in every heart sin in a mystery, iniquity in a mystery, unrighteousness in a mystery. They seem to be for God and Christ, and to be cleansed by them; but uncleanness lodges in them, and sin rules in them against God, and against his Christ in a mystery; which their eye cannot see, and so must needs mistake their state. Yet this is the true state of Babylon, in all the parcels of it; it is the unclean city, where purity of heart and life cannot be known; but though it be washed and transformed ever so often outwardly, yet still it remains inwardly polluted; that which defileth keeping possession and dominion there in a mystery. The living water, the living blood, runs not in any of the streets of this city, so that there can be no true cleansing there. Nay, such strangers are the choicest inhabitants of Babylon to the fountain of life in Sion, to the river that cleanseth and healeth, that they cannot so much as believe that there is a possibility of cleansing and perfect healing, and making sound and whole here, while on earth. There is great talk of these things (of the water, the blood, the cleansing) in all the regions of Babylon (which hath heard of the fame, and forms to itself a likeness); but the thing itself is not to be found there, and so the virtue, which comes from the thing itself alone, cannot be felt there.
3. It is a great city; an overspreading city, a city that overspreads the earth. As Sion was a vast city, a city that did overspread the nations (how did the faith of the gospel over-run the world in the apostles' days!) so this city hath also over-run the world. Indeed it hath taken up the whole territories and dominions of the other city (and hath enlarged itself further), and Sion hath been laid in the dust, and trodden under foot. And though many witnesses, prophets, and martyrs, have mourned over her, yet none have been able to raise up the tabernacle of David, which hath fallen down, nor to recover Sion to this day; but Babylon hath had the power over her. Look with the true eye, and behold how all nations, kindreds, tongues, and languages, have been drunk with some or other of the mixtures of this false woman's cup (some of them over, and over, and over again), and have been inhabitants of this city, crying her up (though not all in her gross habit, but some in her more refined shapes and transformings) for the true church, for Sion; whereas, alas! she hath only Sion's dress, Sion's shape, Sion's outward garment (which is the likeness wherein she lies in wait to deceive), but not Sion's spirit.
2. It is a spiritual or mystical city. It is not an outward building of earthly materials, but an inward building of inward materials. As the outward Sion, the outward Jerusalem, is passed away in its use and service; so the outward Babylon is out of date too. (Ye need not look so far for it.) And as God hath built up an inward city, a spiritual building; so hath the king of darkness likewise. He could never have tempted from the city of the living God, from the city of the mystery of life, but by the city of the mystery of deceit. And as God builds his city of hewn stones, of squared stones, of living stones; so also hath the king of darkness his hewings, his squarings, his preparations, his qualifications for his buildings. If the light break forth, and make it appear too gross to have the whole nation a church, or to admit a whole parish to ordinances, he will gather a church out of the nation, and select some of his choicer stones out of the parish; yea, he may grasp in some of the stones of the true temple, if they come within his reach and circle; that is, if they look abroad, if they step forth, and keep not close to the anointing within, which is the great and only ordinance of the saints' preservation from antichrist's power: for if they step forth but so much as into a prayer against antichrist, out of this, they are caught in his snare, and are serving him in that very prayer, which they may seem with great earnestness and zeal to put up against him.