LEAVING BABYLON
"He has sent me
to proclaim freedom for the prisoners"
-JESUS (Luke 4:18)
INTRODUCTION
"Babylon" means different things to different
people. To the disillusioned, disheartened, and disenfranchised of the land,
leaving "Babylon" means to shake off the chains of our corrupt modern
society. Leaving "Babylon" means to be free of materialism, prejudice,
greed, pollution... to be liberated from anything that has enslaved them by
robbing them of individuality, personal freedom, community, and spirituality.
The following is in no way a complete treatment of the
subject, but what does follow is a brief overview of Babylon past, present, and
future; and hopefully a meaningful presentation of some of the deeper implications
of leaving Babylon.
I would like to suggest that we follow Jesus’ example of
seeking the spiritual basics as we examine what “Babylon” is and how to leave
it behind. So, in an effort to present a spiritual view, here is one man’s
opinion...
WHY BABYLON?
Why does Babylon get such a bad rap? Ancient Babylon offered many wonderful contributions to the
advancement of civilization, so why refer to a corrupt world system as
“Babylon”? It all began with Nimrod who built Babel (Babylon) and its infamous
tower. Babel was built in an effort to achieve prideful goals: to control man’s
own destiny and to ultimately become divine (Genesis 11:1-4). Nebuchadnezzar
and his many successors, continued the corruption, lust for world domination,
idolatry, and forced world religion that was started earlier by Nimrod (Daniel 3).
Man’s pursuit of selfish ambitions and his prideful lust for
power at any cost is the very essence of Babylon. Egotistical goals sought
after without regard to fellow pilgrims, the environment, and most importantly,
without any regard to a relationship to the Father of the Universe is at the
heart of Babylon.
Most importantly, Babylon represents captivity and enslavement.
Following the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. there were several
deportations of Jews to Babylon including Daniel and Ezekiel. According to the
book of Ezra, Cyrus the Great of Persia ended the exile in 538 B.C. after
capturing Babylon, but not all of the Jews elected to return to Jerusalem.
RASTAS, RAINBOWS, AND REVELATION
The Rastafarians borrowed the concept of “Babylon” from Revelation
to describe oppressive government - “the establishment”. In turn, the Rainbow
Family borrowed the term “Babylon” from the Rastas in an effort to describe
“mainstream” society and the world outside of the Rainbow Gathering from which
they are trying to separate themselves.
In Revelation, chapters 17 through 19, Babylon is used to
describe the corrupt oppressive one world government of the antichrist and his
one world religion supported by an apostate church. The Babylon of Revelation
is named “Mystery” Babylon, which is to say that it is hidden, unseen, and yet
to be revealed (Revelation 13 & Revelation 17-19). This “Mystery” Babylon
is presented as a corrupt political, economic, and religious world power.
Babylon is also described in the second chapter of Daniel as a series of
kingdoms starting with King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and ending with a ten
nation federation that will be destroyed in the last days by the Kingdom of
God.
There are many possibilities as to the identity of “Mystery”
Babylon. It is possible that “Mystery” Babylon is the world power described by
Daniel and manifested now as the European Union or even the United Nations.
Another possible clue to the identity of “Mystery” Babylon is found in
Revelation 18:9-19, where we find the description of “Mystery” Babylon’s status
as a world trade power that closely resembles the United States of America.
The exact identity of “Mystery” Babylon may not be revealed
for some time. One thing is evident at this time - Babylon is literal and
figurative; physical and spiritual; historical and prophetic and therefore it
must be viewed from more than just a political perspective.
BUILDING A UTOPIA OR SEEKING THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
The desire to separate from "Babylon" and live in
a utopian world has caught the imaginations of many over the ages. It is a
noble goal to live in a peaceful, eco-friendly world. Except for a few short
term examples true utopia has not been totally and continuously achieved
without some type of dependence upon the outside world. Creating a utopian
society that is truly separate from "Babylon" and self-supporting has
not been realized with any great long term success.
Political and social efforts to completely overcome
"Babylon" and its influence on our lives has proven to be only
superficial. Leaving "Babylon" with all its corruption and greed is
more than just living in a low-tech, eco-friendly utopia. The excess waste,
abuse of nature and ill treatment of our fellow pilgrims that is so prevalent
in "Babylon" has its source in the selfish ambitions, lust for power,
and egotistical goals that make up the heart of "Babylon".
We have to keep in mind that "Babylon" will not be
overcome by man (Revelation 18:20-21) and that the establishment of the Kingdom
of God comes not by human efforts, but by the hand of God (Daniel 2:42-45).
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come,
Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation,
nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the Kingdom of God
is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21) Any utopian society based solely upon external
issues while ignoring the deeper questions of our cosmic treason against the
Father of Creation is only a temporal, man-made shadow of the Kingdom of God
and therefore not a true utopia. Being free of the bondage of
"Babylon" has deep spiritual implications that we need to explore
more fully.
COME OUT FROM BABYLON
“Then I heard another voice from heaven say: ‘Come out of
her (Babylon), my people, so that you will not share in her sins (cosmic
treason), so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are
piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes’” (Revelation 18:4 -5)
“Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins
(cosmic treason)...” (Jeremiah 51:6)
This warning to come out of Babylon is not based just on a
physical exodus or the changing of outward practices; it is a higher call for a
personal, spiritual separation from the corrupt world system. The
"Babylonian" system can not be fixed until the individuals that make
up "Babylon" change first, “We would have healed Babylon, but she
cannot be healed...” (Jeremiah 51:9). If we are to use Babylon to describe the
corrupt world system in which we find ourselves, then we must consider the
possibility that its corruption might be present within our hearts as well.
Jesus warned about making external changes that are
superficial and devoid of any real sincerity. Jesus, talking to “the
establishment” of his day, made a plea for genuine change, a change of the
inner person. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed
and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and
dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law
and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look
beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and
everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as
righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew
23:25-28) This inner change, a change in the heart, is what leaving
"Babylon" is about. All other types of change are only external and
amount to no more than treating the symptoms of "Babylon" - they are
no more than just “cleaning the outside of the cup” with no real lasting
change.
The pervasive corruption found in "Babylon" has
its roots in the corrupt hearts of the "Babylonians" themselves and
just changing geographic location or making outward changes would only serve to
spread the corruption, not cure it. “The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9), Jesus taught us that
the system is corrupt because the people’s hearts are corrupt, “For out of the
heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false
testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19). To find true freedom from the bondage of
"Babylon", the chains of bondage must first be broken within the
heart of the individual.
TRUE LIBERATION FROM BABYLONIAN BONDAGE
What is this “Babylonian” bondage that is so pervasive and
its corruption so great that it not only permeates all of society, but it
actually flows out of a spring deep within the “Babylonians” themselves? To
what exactly are we enslaved to? Jesus replied to this very question, “I tell
you the truth, everyone who sins (commits cosmic treason) is a slave to sin”
(John 8:34). Paul states that we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God” (Romans 3:23).
It is our very own treasonous acts of rebellion against our
Heavenly Father and his creation that has enslaved us. This bondage is
self-imposed and self-perpetuated, as the proverb states, “The evil deeds of a
wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.” (Proverbs 5:22)
“...for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him” (2Peter 2:19).
Remember that Jesus teaches us that it is “out of the heart”
where evil flows from. It is our heart, our inner-person that needs to be set
free from the bondage of “Babylon”. Paul laments about the corruption of his
own heart - “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful
nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out...
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be
to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:18, 24 & 25) Paul looks
not to himself, but to Jesus Christ for his liberation!
Jesus claimed that His mission here on planet earth is
summed up in this ancient prophecy, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because
he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the
oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19). Jesus
said of Himself that “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John
8:36), and that “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”
(John 8:32). Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me” (John 14:6) - Jesus is the Truth that sets us
free, He is the Way to liberty from the oppression and bondage of “Babylon”.
This liberation from “Babylonian” bondage needs to begin
with a changed and liberated heart. Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no
one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). “Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come!” (2Corinthians 5:17). As Jesus taught, we must “first clean the inside of
the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” - we must first let
Jesus lead us out of our captivity to “Babylon” that exists in our hearts so
that we can in turn be liberated from the bondage of “Babylon” that surrounds
us.
WHAT MUST I DO TO BE LIBERATED?
Breaking the chains of bondage and making the exodus out of
“Babylon” requires action. Consider these passages that call for personal
action: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord
Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:30-31) “Repent,
then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of
refreshing may come from the Lord.” (Acts 3:19) “That if you confess with your
mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are
justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the
Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’” (Romans
10:9-11)
The Father of Creation loves us and wants to be a Father to
each one of us, He wants us to be his children. “Yet to all who received him
(Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become
children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or
a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12-13) “How great is the love the
Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that
is what we are!” (1John 3:1)
The Father’s love is so great that, even while everyone on
planet Earth is committing cosmic treason against Him, He reached out to us.
“At one time you were alienated and far away from God. You hated Him, and were
His enemies in your minds, and in your hearts because of your evil behavior.”
(Colossians 1:21) “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we
were still sinners (cosmic traitors), Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).
Through Jesus Christ the Father has made a way to bring us back to Himself.
“But now Christ himself has died on a cross, and he has brought you back to
God. Christ will bring you before God holy, clean, and good.” (Colossians
1:22).
It is our choice, we can choose bondage and death or we can
choose freedom and life, “I have set before you life and death, blessings and
curses. Now choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19) “For I take no pleasure in the
death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32)
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
You may not even believe that there is a God, but if this
freedom that is presented here is something that you desire, then just talk to
the Father. A simple prayer is where to begin. Prayer is just talking to God,
and a simple prayer is all that is necessary, no fancy words, just what is on
your heart. You could pray something like this:
“God, I am not even sure that you are real but I am tired of
being in bondage to the things that are destroying me. Please forgive my cosmic
rebellion (sin) and set me free from “Babylon”. Make yourself real to me.
Please help me to be a new person. I invite Jesus to come into my life. In
Jesus’ name, Amen (so be it).”
If you prayed a similar prayer to this and you were sincere,
you meant it from your heart, then the Father of Creation has liberated you
from “Babylon”. The exodus has already taken place in your heart. “Giving
thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the
saints in the Kingdom of Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness,
and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have
redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:12-14) You have been
rescued from the bondage of “Babylon” and transferred to the Kingdom of Light -
YOU HAVE BEEN LIBERATED!
PILGRIMS JUST PASSING THROUGH
Jesus prayed to the Father about His followers and their
relationship to the world (“Babylon”), “I have given them your word and the
world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the
world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you
protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of
it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the
world, I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:14-18)
Peter writes - “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and
strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your
soul.” (1Peter 2:11) James reminds us - “...don’t you know that friendship with
the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world
becomes an enemy of God.” (James 4:4) And John warns us - “Do not love the
world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him. For everything in the world; the cravings of sinful man,
the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does, comes not from
the Father but from the world.” (1John 2:15-16) Paul urges us - “do not conform
any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his
good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)
SOME CLOSING MEDITATIONS
To effect real change in the world around us there first
must be a real change in the hearts of us all. The importance of keeping a
spiritual focus in our lives is paramount. To come out of "Babylon"
and be totally free from bondage we first must be free spiritually. Spiritual
freedom is a freedom that no one can take away from us because it is not
external - it is internal... it is not political - it is eternal... it is not
social - it is spiritual.
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
-JESUS (John 8:36)
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and
deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles
of this world rather than on Christ.” -PAUL (Colossians 2:8)
“The time has come, The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and
believe the Good News!” -JESUS (Mark 1:15)
Peace, Love
& Light!
Kevin
(Cloud)
A special Thank You to R.C.Sproul for his wonderful book Reason to Believe from which I acquired the
concept of "Cosmic Treason".
DISCLAIMER: I am only an individual doing my best to follow
the Son of God, Jesus the Christ. I do not claim to be a spokesperson or
representative of any group including the Rainbow Family.
© 2001, Revised 07/15/2018
