Mystery Babylon

Revelation 18:4
Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “‘Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;”

These are the words of Jesus Christ, King of kings, and Lord of lords: “Come up out of her, my people...” These are commonly used words when preachers go down the rapture trail. They are foundation words for such doctrines. But I think there is more to what Jesus said than an allusion to the rapture of the church.

Jesus is calling out to His people, commonly thought of as the church, but not necessarily so. You see, there are those who live the church lifestyle, following the church doctrines, who are not actually Christians (Matthew 7:21-23). There are genuinely “good” people who hear the word, follow the rules, and live the life, who aren’t truly saved. This missed salvation isn’t a result of their unbelief in who Jesus is, but is a product of their lack of faith in what He truly did.

So much of our time is spent teaching “Christians” how to be good people that Jesus has become a footnote to Christian theology. The veil that was torn in two at His crucifixion has been sewn back together by the doctrine of the church (2 Corinthians 3:15). In sanctuaries around the world it is the resurrection of the veil of the Law that is being preached rather than the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Well-intended teaching has unintentionally caused many of Christ’s followers to fall from grace. By subjecting Christians to a legalistic view of the Bible and its meaning, many preachers have inadvertently placed the body of Christ back under law. They have re-subjected His body (the church) to the sickness, death, and suffering that He Himself already suffered on our behalf.

Why is there divorce in the church? Why is there sickness in the church? Why is there death in the church? Because she hasn’t accepted the fullness of Christ’s sacrifice. She is still trying to be justified by her ability to do the very things that Christ came to do for her, for us all. (Galatians 5:4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.)

The Bible truth is this: the law gives strength to sin (1 Corinthians 15:56) and the price of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Jesus is calling us all to come up out of her, Babylon, the land of confusion. He’s calling us away from the confusing doctrine of saved by grace, justified by law. He is calling us to be set apart from what the world sees as normal, that is, “do good get good/do bad get bad”; He wants us to live entirely under His grace.

He’s telling us to rise above it all: the rules, the expectations, the unreachable goals. He’s telling us that by living under His grace we won’t sin anymore (1 John 3:9) and that by living in His grace we will not receive any of the plagues. Sickness, disease, depression, fear, and anxiety can’t touch you when you’re under the umbrella of Christ’s grace. Come up out of the confusing mixture of law and grace, the ministry of death (2 Corinthians 3:7), onto the level of the superior covenant of grace and grace alone.