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as strong wine will, so let her cup be filled double. Let her become the prison-house of
these demon and unclean spirit agencies of destruction. That there is this element of
retribution intended Rev. 18: 6, 7 will shew:--
"Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her
works. In the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified
herself and indulged, so much torment and sorrow give her."
A call goes forth at this point to the people of God:--
"Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive
not of her plagues" (verse 4).
"My people."--When Nebuchadnezzar became the head of gold, Israel became
Lo Ammi, "Not My people". At the return from Babylon they came in favour again, but
this position was again lost in A.D.70 at the destruction of the temple. When that great
Babylonian dominion falls, the moment will have arrived for Israel once more to become
"My people". These "people" who are called upon to "come out" are bidden in Jeremiah
to "remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind" (Jer. 51: 50). At
the fall of Babylon Israel repent:--
"In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they
and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord
their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward" (Jer. 50: 4, 5).
The fall of Babylon is to be sudden:--
"Therefore shall her plagues come in one day" (Rev. 18: 8).
"In one hour is thy judgment come" (Rev. 18: 10).
"These two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day . . . . . desolation shall
come upon thee suddenly" (Isa. 47: 9, 11).
Babylon is to be utterly burned by fire (Rev. 18: 8). Jer. 51: 25 says that Babylon
shall become "a burnt mountain". The destruction of Babylon will cause universal woe:--
"The Kings of the earth . . . . . shall bewail her . . . . . and the merchants of the earth
shall weep and mourn over her" (Rev. 18: 9, 11).
"At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among
the nations" (Jer. 50: 46).
These features when taken together prove that this fall of Babylon is future, and
therefore that Babylon must revive and once more take a prominent place in the earth.
For the sake of clearness let us summarize these points:--
1.
The return and repentance of Israel and Judah together.
2.
The terrific suddenness of the blow.
3.
The destruction by fire.
4.
The world-wide consternation at her fall.
These features have never yet been fulfilled. Babylon slowly dwindled away. Arabs
do pitch their tents there. There was a church there in apostolic times (I Pet. 5: 13), and