Seeing the Principle of Babylon and being Saved from Human Endeavor and Hypocrisy

This week in our deeper study of the recovery of the church we come the matter of the degradation of the church – the principle of Babylon and the way to overcome it.

As those who have been shown mercy by the Lord to be in the Lord’s recovery today, we are not in Babylon, but our fallen natural being gravitates toward the principle of Babylon, and we need to be purified from this principle in our being.

We may not be part of Babylon, but we need to see the essential element, the constituent, and the quality of Babylon, for God hates the principle of Babylon more than anything else. We need to have this principle removed from our being, and we need to know what is the way to overcome it.

The New Jerusalem is a miraculous structure of treasure constructed with gold and precious stones, but the great Babylon is gilded with gold and precious stones, having a thin veneer of gold, pearls, and precious stones as ornamental display, but within there’s blasphemy, abominations, and filthiness.

It is crucial to see the vision of the Great Babylon, one of the four visions in the book of Revelation; we need to exercise our spirit and be in spirit to see this vision.

In Rev. 1:10 John was in spirit on the Lord’s day, and he turned and saw seven golden lampstands. In Rev. 4:2 John immediately was in spirit, and he saw the vision of the destiny of the world. In Rev. 17:3 John was carried away in spirit into a wilderness, and there he saw the Great Babylon. In Rev. 21:10 John was carried away in spirit on a great a high mountain, and he saw the vision of the New Jerusalem.

In regards to these visions, there are only three places that we can be in today: in the local churches (as a procedure for God to gain the New Jerusalem, His corporate expression), the world (sinners, away from God), or the Babylon.

The local churches are the stepping-stones to the New Jerusalem, and we need to be in the local churches today to be the church that the Lord desires, His corporate expression.

Everyone who has a heart for the Lord and for His recovery must thoroughly know the apostate church, and we need to see the principle of Babylon and know the way to overcome it.

The Principle of Babylon is Man’s Endeavor to Build up something on Earth to Heaven by Human Ability

In Gen. 11:1-9 men came together in rebellion under Nimrod and decided to build a great tower that reaches the heavens, to reach God, so that they would make a name for themselves.

They didn’t uses stones (which are created by God and suitable for His building) but bricks, something of the earth that has been burned and worked on by man. Stones are made by God, whereas bricks are made by man; bricks are a human invention, a human product, made of the earth that is burned so that any element of life would be burned out.

In Babylon the element of life and the element that grows life is burned out of people. Many times those who go to a Bible seminary go on fire for the Lord, but when they finish, they question their faith in Christ.

What we see in Christendom is the misuse of man to build up something for God, where the functions of the members of the Body are annulled, and the gifts in the Body are either abused or misused.

Those who live according to the principle of Babylon don’t see that they are limited; rather, they try to go the Lord’s work by their natural ability and with their human effort.

Paul was not like this: he testified that he labored more than others, but it was not him but the grace of God, and he was sure that his labor was not in vain in the Lord (see 1 Cor. 10:10, 58).

But the principle of Babylon is different: it is to make an advertisement for what man can do “for God”.

We need to realize that whatever we do apart from Christ is sin; apart from Him we can do nothing.

We need to do everything in our measure and not go beyond it, and we need to fill up the full measure of our ministry in the Body, in the Lord (2 Tim. 4:5).

God doesn’t need our invention, our effort, or our natural ability; what He needs is us to rely on Him, depend on Him, and realize that, if the Lord doesn’t strengthen us inwardly and give us grace, we can do nothing.

Our flesh, our natural man, and our good intentions suffice nothing in spiritual things.

The building of God is not built with man-made bricks or by human labor; the church as God’s building is built with God-created and transformed stones, and it is built by the divine work (1 Cor. 3:12).

As we exercise our spirit to build up the church, we need to tell the Lord,

Lord, save me from building with wood, grass, or stubble; save me from building with my natural man, the flesh, or things that are lifeless. I want to build with the Triune God which has been wrought into me! Lord, build Yourself into me more today!

When we serve, everything we do should come out from God as the source, through Him as the means and strength and energy, and the goal should be the glory of God and not seeking our own glory.

Lord Jesus, expose in us the principle of Babylon and save us from trying to build the church with anything of the self, the flesh, the natural man, or things that are lifeless. Keep us in the enjoyment of God and give us grace that we may build the church with gold, silver, and precious stones. Work Yourself into us, Lord, and produce in us the materials needed for Your building. Apart from You we can do nothing. Save us from initiating or doing anything out of ourselves. Keep us depending on You, Lord, in everything we do!

The Principle of Babylon is Hypocrisy – we need to be Saved from Pretending and Falsehood

The principle of Babylon is hypocrisy (see Rev. 17:4, 6; Matt. 23:25-32; Luke 12:1); we need to be self from hypocrisy, that is, being one person when we’re the saints, and another when we’re outside the meeting.

Outwardly we may appear one way, so kind and spiritual and meek, but inwardly we may be totally different; being a hypocrite means we’re a stage actor, an impersonator, someone pretending to be something he’s not. To be delivered from pretending is a great matter.

In Christianity today so many are like stage actors when they speak, when they sing, and when they do things in God’s name.

No matter what we pretend to be before others, God knows our heart (Luke 16:15), and He knows that we may honor Him only with our lips, yet our heart may be far away from Him (Matt. 15:7-8). The Lord looks at the heart, not at what we pretend to be.

In Joshua 7:21, after Israel had a great victory from the Lord over one of the big cities in Canaan, Jericho, they went to Ai – a smaller city – and were defeated, because of the sin of Achan. This one saw a beautiful Babylonian garment and coveted it and took it; therefore, the entire people was defeated.

The significance of Achan’s sin was his coveting a beautiful garment in his seeking to improve himself, to make himself look better, for the sake of appearance (Josh. 7:21). Whenever we put on a garment that doesn’t match our actual condition, that is the principle of Babylon.

This was also the sin of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11, who lied to the Holy Spirit. They didn’t love the Lord very much, but they wanted to be looked upon as those who greatly loved the Lord; they were just pretending.

They were not willing to offer everything cheerfully to God – as the others did, but they acted before men as if they had offered all. We do not have to pretend to be absolute or consecrated to the Lord; we can be absolute only because Christ in us is absolute, and He Himself is our absoluteness.

May we be those who are real and true, genuine worshippers of God; the Father seeks genuine worshippers who worship Him in spirit and in truthfulness (John 4:24). May the divine reality be wrought into us to become our sincerity and truthfulness for our worship of God.

May the Lord shine on the principle of Babylon and expose it in us, in our living and practice, and may we be rescued from pretending to be someone who we are not.

May we take the Lord’s word in Matt. 6:1-6 and practice praying in secret, giving in secret, and seeking the Lord in secret, not making a show out of it, so that the Father – who sees in secret – would repay us.

When we do things in secret for the Lord and before the Lord, the flesh and the self – who are lusting for man’s glory – are killed.

Outward exhibition greatly frustrates our inner growth in the divine life. We need to enter into our private room, shut the door, and spend much time in secret with the father.

Everything done in falsehood to receive glory from man is done in the principle of the harlot – who is merely gilded with gold and precious stones – and not in the principle of the bride (see John 5:41, 44; 7:18; 12:42-43; 2 Cor. 4:5; 1 Thes. 2:4-6).

The great harlot does everything to show others – yet without having the inward reality of what she does, but the bride is being constituted with gold, pearls, and precious stones.

The Lord Jesus didn’t receive glory from men, and Paul preached not himself but Christ Jesus, seeking glory not from man but from the Lord. We need to be purified from hypocrisy, pretending, and falsehood, the principle of Babylon.

Lord Jesus, save us from pretending to be something or someone who we are not. Save us from pretending to be spiritual, consecrated, or those who greatly love God when we’re actually not. May we be those who spend much time with You in secret to enjoy You, enquire of You, be infused with You, and minister to You. Save us Lord form putting on a garment that doesn’t match our actual condition. Save us from doing things in falsehood for others to see and appreciate us. Lord Jesus, save us from living and working in the principle of Babylon!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, The Glorious Church, ch. 5 (by Watchman Nee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Church (2017 fall ITERO), week 3, The Degradation of the Church – the Principle of Babylon and the Way to Overcome it.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # All the gifted persons given / To the Body by the Head / Are to aid the Church’s building, / That to fulness she be led. / For the Church should be our service, / Not our aims to satisfy; / This, the perfect will of God is, / And with it we must comply. (Hymns #914)
  # Take time to behold Him, / Speak oft with Thy Lord, / Abide in Him always, / And feed on His Word. / Wait thou in His presence, / Submissive and meek, / Forgetting in nothing / His blessing to seek. (Hymns #643)
  # I long for fellowship in spirit, / With saints in spirit thus to pray, / Long for deliv’rance from pretention, / Long for true fellowship today. (Hymns #847)