Chapter Thirty-Six -The Great City Devastated

Conclusion of "Get Out of Her, My People'

The apostle Paul quoted Isaiah's words in his letter to the Corinthians saying:  "Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship do righteousness and lawlessness have?  Or what sharing does light have with darkness? . . . 'Therefore, get our from among them, and separate yourselves," says Jehovah, 'and quit touching the unclean thing.' "   The Corinthian Christians did not have to leave Corinth in order to obey that command.  They did, however, physically have to avoid the unclean temples of false religion,  as well as spiritually  separate themselves from the unclean acts of those idol worshipers.  In 1919 God's people began to flee from  Babylon the Great in this way, cleansing themselves of an residual unclean teachings and practices.  Thus, they were able to serve him as his purified people.-2 Corinthians 6:14-17; 1 John 3:3.

Ancient Babylon's fall and eventful desolation was a punishment for her sins.  "For  clear to the heavens her judgment has reached."  (Jeremiah 51:9)  Similarly, the sins of Babylon the Great have "massed together clear up to the heaven," so as to come to the attention of Jehovah himself.  She is guilty of injustice, idolatry, immorality, oppression, robbery, and murder. Ancient Babylon's fall was, in part, vengeance for what she had done to Jehovah's temple and his true worshipers.  (Jeremiah 50:8, 14; 51:11, 35, 36)  The fall of Babylon the Great and her final destruction is the beginning of "the day of vengeance on he part of our God." -Isaiah 34:8-10; 61:2; Jeremiah 50:28. 

Under the Mosaic Law, if an Israelite stole from his fellow countrymen, he had to pay back at least double  in compensation.  (Exodus 22:1, 4, 7, 9)  In the coming destruction of Babylon the Great, Jehovah will apply a comparable standard of justice.  She is to receive twice as much as she gave out.  There will be no mercy to temper this justice because Babylon the Great has shown no mercy to her victims.  She fed parasitically on the peoples of the earth to keep herself in "shameless luxury."  Now she will experience suffering and mourning. Ancient Babylon felt that she was in an absolutely secure position, boasting:  "I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know  the loss of children. (Isaiah 47:8, 9, 11) Babylon the Great also feels secure. But her destruction, decreed by Jehovah who "is strong," will happen  quickly, as if "in one day"! 

Next time: Chapter Thirty-Seven -Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End

From the book of Revelation