The End of the Church Age...and After

    Thus far in this study we have learned a lot about the “times and seasons’’ of God’s salvation plan. We have seen that God has three seasons of the Gospel, in which fruit can be seen. We saw the early “righteous” rain of the Old Testament, which produced the first of the firstfruits, which was our Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen the season of the firstfruits, which was the church age, and finally, we saw that we are in the final season, the latter rain, in which God is gathering that final harvest before Judgment Day. We are so thankful to know that God is still saving in these days of spiritual darkness in the churches. He is saving a great multitude that no man can number, but this salvation is outside of the churches. This is the latter rain.

    We also learned that these three seasons are separated by times of spiritual famine. In the days of Jesus, almost no one became saved despite the perfect preaching of the Lord Jesus for three and a half years. We also learned that the Great Tribulation, which we are well into now, began with another spiritual famine in which God pinched off the Gospel. But, our encouragement is that in the second part of the Great Tribulation, God began the latter rain in which He is saving a great multitude throughout the world, outside of the churches and congregations. We also learned that this Great Tribulation began with the end of the church age, in which God is finished with His use of the churches to evangelize the world. In fact, the churches are now under the judgment of God, as judgment begins in the house of God (I Peter 4:17).

    Since we have learned all of this, we must now search the Bible to see what God has commanded regarding our relationship with the local church. Does God have instructions for us concerning our relationship with the churches and congregation? What if I attend a reasonably faithful church, maybe it is the most faithful church in my village or town, and our church does not teach many of the wrong doctrines mentioned in this study. Does God have any commandment for me? Especially since we have seen how the churches are now under the judgment of God? Surely, this cannot include my faithful church, or can it?

Believers Must Depart Out of Their Churches

    We are going to see that God does have a specific commandment for all believers, and that commandment is that they must depart out of their

churches. To repeat, we will see that God has commanded that the believers must depart out of their churches. No matter how faithful their church appears, God has commanded His people to leave the church. We will see five specific passages that give this commandment to believers today. Actually, God only had to tell us once. As faithful servants, we should only have to be told once. However, God in his wonderful mercy has told us in many different ways. We will see that God has given no exceptions to this command. He has commanded each and every believer to leave the church. Along the way, we will see many other parallel passages that support this command and show how God has given similar commands in the past. As we study these passages let us pray that God would give us obedience to His Word alone.

First Passage

    Let us look again at Matthew 24:15-16:

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

    As we have learned, the abomination of desolation is Satan. This verse speaks of a time when we will see Satan stand in the holy place. We have learned that the holy place is where the Gospel is. Throughout the church age that place could be only the local churches that had been given the command to send the Gospel into all the world. The abomination of desolation standing in the holy place identifies, as we have repeatedly seen, with the Great Tribulation. We read in Matthew 24, verse 21:

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

    We are assured that this terrible time will be just before the end of the world. Matthew 24:29 declares:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

    Verse 2l tells us the setting of Matthew 24, that it is speaking of our day, the time of the Great Tribulation. Verse 29 tells us what comes immediately after the Great Tribulation, namely. the end of the world and Judgment Day. So, we can see from this and our study thus far, that the setting of verses 15 and 16 is our day. We have also seen that the “holy place’’ that God has in mind are the churches and congregations throughout the world. These are the places that God had set apart for His work during the past 1900 years of the church age. But, we see the command in verses 15 and 16. When we see Satan, who is the abomination of desolation, standing in the churches (the holy place), then God has given the commandment that the believers must flee.

    Notice that in verse l5 God used the phrase “when you see the abomination of desolation.” He didn’t say when you “experience.” As we have seen before, we can see again how Satan is now ruling in the churches and congregations. We can see both from our own experience and from the Bible that He is ruling. This is evidence that Satan has taken his seat in the temple, and therefore, the time has come that Matthew 24:15 is fulfilled, and so the believers must flee Judea.

    Notice that the test God gave to the believers was not when they see Satan obviously ruling in their own local church, but when they see him ruling in the "holy place." The holy place is the temple, and the temple includes all of the churches and congregations throughout the world, In this study, we have seen that he is now ruling in congregations throughout the world, so the test of Matthew 24:l5 is fulfilled without any question. Therefore, Christ has commanded that we leave the church.

    The land of “Judea” included Jerusalem and the area around about. This word “Judea” in the Greek New Testament is very close to the word “Jew,” so spiritually, it identities with the word “Jew.” The “Jew” that God has in mind are those of Romans 2:28-29, the true believers. So, when God says to depart from “Judea,” impelling the believers they must depart from the land of the believers, the corporate expression of the kingdom of God. They cannot leave the eternal kingdom of God, but they can leave the external body, the churches and congregations. They are the holy place, they are the Judea that exists today. The believers must leave the churches because the Holy Spirit has left the churches and given the rulership to Satan.

    Therefore, Matthew 24:15-16 is telling the believers they must leave the visible kingdom of God, the churches and congregations. We are to flee to the ‘‘mountains,’’ which represent God Himself (Psalm 121:1).

    So, we can see that God has given the command that when we reach the times we are now in, with Satan ruling in the congregations, we must leave.

Second passage

    Let us look at a parallel passage, Luke 21:20-21:

And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

    Verse 21 is very similarly Matthew 24:15-16. From our earlier studies, we have seen that these verses can be speaking only about the Great Tribulation just before Christ returns. The Jerusalem in view must be the churches congregations. We learned that Galatians 4:25-26 tells us that the churches are made up of “Jerusalem above,” which are the true believers, and the Jerusalem below, which are the unsaved in the churches who think they are saved. In Luke 21:20-21, God uses the language of “Jerusalem compassed with armies.” This language is very similarly Revelation 20:7-9:

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth. Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about. and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

    In this passage, God uses the language, “camp of the saints,” whereas in Luke 21, we see “Jerusalem.” Both passages are speaking of the same time.

This is the time when the “armies” of Satan have compassed the corporate kingdom of God. Throughout this study, we have seen how we have arrived at that time when God has sent Satan with his armies to compass and destroy the churches. We can see that this criteria has been fulfilled. In Luke 21:20- 21, we have the same command that is in Matthew 24. God repeats His command, that the believers, those in Judaea, must depart out. This is another direct command to us today, that we must leave the church.

Third Passage

    We see similar language in Mark 13:14, which says:

But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet. standing where it ought not. (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be In Judaea flee to the mountains:

    One may wonder why we would mention this passage, also. It is important because God has given it. Many things Jesus said or did were mentioned only once in the Gospels, but this important time, this time in which we are seeing God’s judgment upon the churches (I Peter 4:17), is mentioned in these three Gospels. This verse is very similar to Matthew 24:15, but God changes the language a little. In Matthew 24, God says that Satan will be standing in the “holy place,” in Mark 13, God says he in standing “where it ought not.”

    The churches and congregations are a place that Satan should not be. He does not belong there. When we consider passages like I Timothy 3, which gives the rules God established for the leadership of the churches, we see just one example of the protection that God provided for the church throughout the New Testament era. This particular protection was the careful rules that must be followed in the selection of elders and deacons. But the churches have set aside these rules, and many other rules, and have rejected the protection that God has provided.

    If we look carefully at the vineyard of Isaiah 5:1-7 and the Jerusalem of Ezekiel 16, we will see that they are speaking of the New Testament churches and congregations. In these passages we see examples of God’s great care for the corporate church. With such care, we can see why God says that the churches are a place that Satan “ought not” to be. God has provided such careful protection that Satan should never have been able to rule in the churches.

    However, as we have seen in this study, the churches have rejected the rules of God; they have rejected the rules God gave for leadership in I Timothy 3. They have rejected the Bible as the authority and established their own authority. The result is that Satan has been appointed by God to have rulership where he “ought not" to be.

Fourth Passage

    For our next proof text that God has commanded the believers to depart from the churches, we will look at Luke 21:5-6, which says:

And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

    When many people look at this passage, they quickly come to the conclusion that Jesus is speaking of the destruction of the physical temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by the Romans. Even many people who recognize the fact that Matthew 24, Luke 21, and Mark 13 are mostly speaking about the end of the world, they still hold to the idea that this verse and its companion in Matthew 24:1-2 is speaking of the event in A.D. 70. However, we must read the passage and its surrounding verses very carefully if we are to arrive at truth.

    Let’s look closely at the companion verses in Matthew 24. We read in verses 1 to 5:

1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

    You will notice in verse 3 that the disciples came and asked Jesus when these things will happen and what is the sign of His coming and the end of the world. God guided the disciples to ask a question that tells us when the time would be that “there shall not be left one stone upon another.” The time is at the end of the world, the time of His corning.

    Notice the first sign that Jesus said would indicate when one stone will not be left upon another. That sign is that men will come as false christs to deceive. They shall be effective and deceive many. We see this in verse 5. The test that Jesus gives us to determine when “there shall not be left one stone upon another” is that false christs will come and deceive many. This ties into Matthew 24:24, which says:

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

    Matthew 24:24 expands the explanation of verses 4 and 5 and as we have seen in this study, Matthew 24:24 is talking about today. So, we see that when Christ said “There shall not be one stone left upon another,” He cannot be talking about A.D. 70, but rather Christ is talking about our day.

    An even stronger proof of this is found in Matthew 24:1. Notice what the Bible says Jesus saw: “ ... the buildings of the temple.” Notice that the word “buildings” is plural. This means that this passage is not just speaking of the temple itself, but of all the related "buildings," which would include the Western Wailing Wall and the temple foundation because both were integral parts of that same stone structure. If God was talking only about the temple itself, then He would have used a singular phrase like “temple building.”

    However, God very carefully put a plural word here. Also Mark l3:1-2 has the same plural word. From Galatians 3:16 we can see that God is very careful about the use of plural and singular words.

    Therefore, we can know for a certainty that Luke 21:5-6 and Matthew 24:1-2 are not speaking of the destruction of the physical temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70, but can be speaking only of the destruction of the churches and congregations in our day.

And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

    Now, we can see what God is saying. He is saying that there shall not remain one church that is still recognized by God as a part of the temple of God. In I Corinthians 3, God says that every believer is gold, silver and precious stones in the temple of God. Therefore, each local congregation is a part of that temple. Each true believer in that church is a living precious stone that has been built into the spiritual temple structure. However, when Christ says that not one stone would be left upon another, He is saying that there shall not be any congregation that is still recognized by God as part of that temple. If there were still one church left that was still recognized by God, then it would be a little part of the temple, with some stones upon stones. But, Christ said there would not be any structure left. All the churches will become dead in God’s sight.

What is the Conclusion for the Believer?

    What is the necessary conclusion of this for the believer? If their church is no longer recognized by God, it is no longer Christ’s church, then it must be under the rulership of someone else. This is exactly what II Thessalonians 2 is telling us. The Holy Spirit has been removed. and Satan has taken his seat in the temple. He is now ruling. The believers cannot stay because Satan is now the ruler. This passage is telling us that there will not be left one church recognized by God. Therefore, the believers must leave.

    Remember the true believers are instructed in Luke 21:20 to depart out of Jerusalem in our day. Thus, we have learned that the time has now come when we must leave our churches and congregations even though we are to

continue to gather together to fellowship with other true believers outside of the church (Hebrews 10:25).

    But the question once more must be raised: lf a church earnestly tries to remove all of its wrong doctrines (its spiritual high places), and if it still has true believers within it, why can’t it continue as a viable God-blessed congregation? In answer to this question we must carefully consider what God has said.

    We have been learning that God has declared that there is not to be left one stone upon another. God has declared this since it means that God is declaring that it is His intention that there is not to be even one church left to represent God’s kingdom. If a church insists that it is still recognized by God, then it is still trying to have a small part in the temple of God and saying the believers (the stones) in that church are still in place in the temple of God. But that cannot be because God declares there will not be left one stone upon another. This means that God’s usage of the churches and congregations has come to an end.

    The fact that the command to depart from the church is to be obeyed by every believer is underscored by the language of Luke 2l:5, 6 where God declares that in the temple there would not be one stone left upon another stone that would not be thrown down. We have already leaned that according to I Corinthians 3 the temple is the corporate church that God has been building for more than 1950 years. This is the temple that Luke 21:5, 6 says that it will not have one stone left upon another that would not be thrown down, Therefore, the believers must leave the church.

Fifth Passage: Who Does the Fallen Babylon Represent?

    When a king of any nation has conquered a city so that the city is now ruled by the conquering king, that city becomes an integral part of the kingdom of the conquering king. Thus, we must understand, as we have learned from II Thessalonians 2:4, that Satan is ruling in the churches and congregations during the Great Tribulation period of our time, and those churches and congregations have become spiritual Babylon. They are a fallen Babylon because they are under the wrath of God.

Let us now look at Babylon in the Book of Revelation to see what God is telling us about Babylon and how the churches that are now called “Babylon.”

    We first read about Babylon in Revelation Chapter 14, wherein God has been discussing the worship of the beast and its image and those who receive the mark of the beast on their forehead or on their hand. Revelation 14:8 and 9 declare:

And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

    This verse emphasizes that she has fallen because she made all nations drinker the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Surely this Babylon is related to the beast and its image. We already have learned that the beast is Satan and the image of the beast are the churches and congregations wherein Satan is ruling during the Great Tribulation period.

    We can now prove that the Babylon of Revelation 14:8, 9 are the churches and congregation of today by going to the last verse of Revelation 18. There we find the concluding statement concerning this Babylon, and we read:

And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

    Moreover, we read in Revelation l7:6:

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

    Does this terrible indictment of murder apply to churches and congregations? What a terrible idea.

    In fact, it does apply to the churches and congregations. Let us examine a principle Christ enunciated in Luke 13:33, 34. There we read:

. . . for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them

that are sent unto thee; . . .

    Christ is saying that the one who murders the prophets is the church. Remember the church is the New Testament Israel, also called Jerusalem. Christ is not only saying that the church murders the prophets, but that the prophets are only murdered by the church, not by the world. At first this may seem surprising, but it is understandable when we realize that the world does not distinguish between the true Gospel and false gospels. Therefore, they desire to kill religious people, they will kill those of all gospels. So, they are effectively killing the “people.” However, it is the church that does not want the true Gospel, just like Israel did not want the true Gospel.

    Therefore, the church focuses its attack on those of the true Gospel. Therefore, they are the ones who kill the prophets. We might think that it is the world that murders the prophets, but as we study the Bible. we get the clear message that it is the church, the corporate body, that murders the prophets.

    Even more emphatically, we read in Matthew 23:34, 35 that Jesus indicts Jerusalem with the words:

Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth. from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

    Note the similar language of Revelation l8:24 and Matthew 23:35:

Revelation 18:24: “of all that were slain upon the earth.”

Matthew 23:35: “all the righteous blood shed upon the earth.”

    Remember we read in John 16:2 that the believers are driven out of the synagogues (the place where believers are to gather together), and this is spoken of as the killing of the believers.

    Remember also we learned that during the Great Tribulation period, Jerusalem can be only the churches and congregations. But Revelation 18:24 is teaching that this murderous organization is called Babylon.

    Incidentally, we wonder why the murder of Abel is spoken of in the context of Jerusalem. From this passage, we learn that Jerusalem is where the

truth of the Gospel is on display. It is where the Holy Spirit is actively saving.

    Abel was a true believer. Therefore, the Holy Spirit was with Abel. Therefore, in his day he could identify with the holy place. In the days before Jesus began to preach, Jerusalem would have been the place wherein the Holy Spirit was working. The presence of God was typified by the holy of holies in the temple. That helps us to understand why the churches and congregations of the church age are called Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit was working within them to save people.

    That also explains statements such as Zachariah 14:2 which teaches that Jerusalem will be taken, and half the city shall go forth into captivity and the residue of the people shall not be cutoff from the city. This verse is teaching that the churches and congregations are taken over by Satan. The true believers are driven from the churches because the abomination of desolation has come into the holy place (Matthew 24:l5). Therefore, they must leave the city. But they are not cut off from the city. This is so because even though they were driven from the churches and congregations, the Holy Spirit is still in their midst so that spiritually, they are still identified with Jerusalem.

    Another proof that Babylon is speaking of the churches and congregations during the Great Tribulation is found in Revelation 18:2, which says:

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

    Notice that this verse says that Babylon “is become the habitation of devils.” If Babylon represented the world, God wouldn’t use the phrase “is become” because the world has been the habitation of devils since the fall. However, now with Satan ruling in the church, the church has become the habitation of devils in the Great Tribulation. So, this verse helps to confirm that we have properly understood that Babylon here is speaking about the churches and congregations of our day, the Great Tribulation.

Jerusalem Becomes Babylon

    Returning to Revelation 18, we have learned that the churches and congregations had been called Jerusalem but now they are called Babylon, How can that be?

    To answer this question we must remember that Jerusalem is where the Holy Spirit should be present. This is so even as in Jesus’ day, Jerusalem was

the holy city because the holy of holies was in the temple and the temple was located in Jerusalem.

    When Jesus was hanging on the cross and the veil of the temple was rent, the holy of holies was no longer holy. Therefore, the temple was no longer holy and Jerusalem was no longer the holy city.

    The real Jerusalem and its holy place as it continued to be found on earth shifted to the churches and congregations in which the Holy Spirit had been working through out the era of the church age. That is why in Matthew 24:15 we read:

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

    The New Testament churches and congregations were the holy place because God the Holy Spirit was present within them applying the preached Word of God to the hearts and lives of those whom God was saving.

    But II Thessalonians 2:7 tells us that there would come a time when the Holy Spirit would be withdrawn from the midst and instead the man of sin (Satan) would be ruling in the temple (the churches and congregations). This parallels what we read in Matthew 24:15 where God declares that the abomination of desolation (Satan) would be standing in the Holy Place (the churches and congregations in which at an earlier time the Holy Spirit was working).

    We must remember that Satan is spiritually the king or ruler of Babylon. If he is ruling in the churches and congregations, then effectively they have become Babylon. The local church has become the citadel or palace of Satan’s kingdom because Satan is seated (ruling) there. Now we can understand why in Chapters 17 and 18 and already in Revelation 14:8, the churches are called Babylon.

God’s Command to the Believers Concerning Babylon

    Now that we can see that the Babylon in the 14th, 17th, and 18th chapters of Revelation canoe speaking only of the churches and congregations of our day, we can understand the command God has given us in Revelation l8:4.

    In Revelation 18:4 God commands:

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying. Come out of her,

my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

    We have seen the fifth verse that commands the believers to leave the churches and congregations. Also this verse is very scary because God is warning that if we remain, we are subject to her plagues. The plagues that God is speaking about is to be cast into hell forever more, that is, to experience eternal damnation. What a scary verse. May God give us the wisdom to see the very serious nature or this question and the great danger of remaining in a church.

    This command parallel a command that is given, for example, in Luke 21:20, 21:

And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

    That is why Jesus said in Luke 2l:5, 6:

And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold. the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

    If Babylon were referring to the nations of the world, then the command of Revelation 18:4 would not make sense. The believers are not to leave the world, but are to remain in the world until Christ comes or God takes them in death. When Christ comes, He will take the believers out of the world. They will not be obeying a command to come out on their own. The only way believers could obey a command to leave the world is to kill themselves, but that would be contrary to God’s command to be a witness. Therefore, we have further assurance that Babylon refers to the churches and congregations of today.

Come Out of Babylon - God’s Final Test

    Let’s examine this question a little more. One might immediately ask “Isn’t Babylon a reference to the entire kingdom of Satan? Isn’t God in this

command simply telling the believers to come out of the kingdom of Satan, that is, isn’t this a command to become saved?” This seems like a plausible statement.

    The problem is that the people of God (my people), are those whom God has already spiritually taken out of the kingdom of Satan and translated them into the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:13). However, having become citizens of the kingdom of God, we must still live in this world, which is the location of the kingdom of Satan. The fact is, we are to live in the Babylon of this world, and serve in this world as ambassadors of the kingdom of God. We live in the Babylon of this workday did Daniel and his three friends in their day. The only way we can come out of the Babylon of this world is to die, Surely, God is not commanding this in Revelation 18:4.

    However, when the king of Babylon is ruling in the churches, then these churches have become Babylon. Then we know we who are believers are to come physically out of this spiritual Babylon. This is an action every believer must take.

    God is certainly making sure that the true believers get the message. The command is loud and clear. When the churches and congregations are ruled over by Satan, when the Holy Spirit has come out of the midst, when the abomination of desolation is in the holy place, when Jerusalem has become surrounded by armies, when the Great Tribulation has begun, the believers must come out of the churches. This is not an option, this command is not to be debated, this command is not subject to our opinion. This is a command to be obeyed. Those who disobey will be included amongst those who begin to experience the judgment of God.

    The emphasis and importance of this command to those in the churches and congregations of our day is no less imperative than the command given to the inhabitants of Judah when Babylon was assaulting Jerusalem and would finally destroy it in 587 B.C. They were commanded to come out of Jerusalem and go as captives to Babylon. But don’t we have a contradiction? Judah was commanded to go as captives to Babylon. In our day, the true believers are commanded to come out of Babylon. How can we understand this?

    Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18 cannot identify with any entity except the churches and congregations of our day. Some theologians would try to identify it with the whole world, and this seems possible because Satan who is represented by the king of Babylon has been given the authority to rule over the whole world.

    However, we have already learned that it is Jerusalem that kills the prophets. That alone assures us that Babylon refers to churches. We must also recognize that the believers are to come out of her lest they become subject to the plagues coming upon Babylon (Revelation l8:4). We cannot come out of the world. We are not to love the world, we are not to place our trust in the things of the world, but we cannot come out of the world. Fact is, we are to be ambassadors of the kingdom of God to the world.

    On the other hand, we are to come out of the churches and congregations. We have no business remaining in them for any reason. Churches are places of worship. Those who attend are worshipping the god who rules in the churches. Before the end of the church age, any church that was reasonably true to the Word of God was worshipping Christ. At least the true believers were worshipping Christ, but when the Great Tribulation began, God the Holy Spirit was no longer in the midst of the congregation. Instead, it is Satan who is ruling. Therefore, without realizing it, the congregation is worshipping Satan. The church has become Babylon. Those who are true believers have a great desire to obey God’s commandments. Therefore. as they learn from the Bible that the time has come that God’s judgment is upon the churches, they will leave the churches in obedience to God’s command.

    True, those remaining in the church can continue to ask all kinds of questions as to why they should not remain there, but the fact is, they are not obeying God’s command to depart out. They are tempting God to see if God will really do what He has declared. They actually are acting like unsaved people who are arguing whether a good God would do this or would not do that. God is warning of the “plagues” of hell for those who remain, as we have read in Revelation 18:4:

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

    May we all take heed to this warning. When we combine the terrible warning of this verse with everything else we read in the Bible about this judgment, we know that the believed will and must leave the local churches.

    We can look at this question from another vantage point. Do we realize that when a church is holding onto its members by insisting that it remains

faithful and that God is still saving in the church, effectively, they are calling for spiritual death upon those in attendance? If the Holy Spirit is no longer in the midst of that church, those present have been lured into a death trap. God is no longer saving there and yet their trust is that by being there, God might save them. What a horrible situation. As long as they trebling convinced they should remain in that church. there is no possibility of eternal life being given to them. Even those who believe they are saved and are being convinced to remain in that church are in a very dangerous situation. Their refusal to depart out may be evidence that they are not saved even though in their own hearts and minds, they are sure they are saved. How dangerous it is to remain in a church!

The Believers Are Ambassadors

    We must remember that Babylon is the kingdom of Satan ruled over by Satan. The whole world is his kingdom because all of the unsaved of the world are slaves of Satan. However, in the world. the true believers do not worship Satan. They are in the world (Babylon, the kingdom of Satan), serving as ambassadors of the kingdom of God. They are in the world but they are not of the world. They are in the world, Satan’s dominion, but they worship only Christ. They are like the people of Judah who were commanded to leave Jerusalem and go as captives to Babylon and there they were to do as we read in Jeremiah 29:4-7:

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

     Likewise, during these days of the Great Tribulation the believers are to come out of Jerusalem (the churches and congregations) and sojourn outside of the churches in the world. There they are to seek the welfare of the peoples of the world by diligently bringing the Gospel. On the other hand, Jerusalem in 587 B.C. was the city to worship in. But in case under the rule of Babylon. Therefore, no one was to remain there lest they, under the judgment of God would be killed. And as we learned earlier in our study, those who remained in Jerusalem eventually were killed.

    Likewise, Jerusalem of our day is the churches and congregation. It is in the churches that worship is going on. Since the beginning of the Great Tribulation, Satan has been given the right to reign in the churches so that they have become Babylon from which the true believers are to flee.

    Thus, there is no contradiction. We are to come out of Babylon, the churches wherein Satan is worshipped. We are to go into the world which is also under Satan’s dominion, but we go as representatives, as ambassadors of the kingdom of God. In no sense are we to worship Satan as those do who remain in the churches.

    Those who remain in the churches may argue, or may contend that they are worshipping God and in no way are they worshipping Satan. But they must listen to God’s assessment of their situation. Remember we learned in our study of Revelation 13 that those who remain in the churches are worshipping the beast and its image. Remember the Holy Spirit is no longer active in churches applying the preached Word of God to the hearts and lives of the unsaved. Satan is reigning there as we read in II Thessalonians 2:4:

Who opposite and exalters himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

    Thus, we have seen five clear commands to depart from the church. God only needed to tell us once, but He has told us at least these five limes. Plus, God has given us many other verses that show us that the churches are under the judgment of God, Satan is now ruling there, and the Holy Spirit has been removed and with Him, the possibility of salvation in the churches. With all of these verses, God has made it clear. If we love Him, we must leave the church. lf we do not, we have failed this final test.*

    * For further discussion of Mystery Babylon and the command to get out of her, please see Appendix A.