What does EGW write about...
Adventistische Schriften über: "Symbolism of Babylon in prophetic texts"
Answer
In prophetic texts Babylon primarily symbolizes spiritual confusion and the apostasy from true faith. It does not represent a single building or a literal city, but religious organizations that have entered an unlawful alliance with the world and have sacrificed divine truth for the sake of traditions. The term encompasses both the papal system and the fallen Protestantism that reject the call to biblical repentance.
The meaning and the moral fall of Babylon
The term Babylon derives from Babel and means confusion. It is used in Holy Scripture to denote the various forms of false or fallen religions. In Revelation Babylon is portrayed as a woman, a figure that in the Bible is used as a symbol for a church; a virtuous woman represents a pure church, a licentious woman a fallen church.
That Babylon does not encompass the entire godless world and is not made up of a literal city, but consists of professing worshippers of God, can, in our opinion, be clearly demonstrated. This is not an abstract question, but a highly practical one that is closely linked to our duty toward God.
The true church is a chaste virgin. ... The church that is allied with the world in friendship is a harlot. It is this unlawful connection with the kings of the earth that makes it the great harlot of the apocalypse. ... Is it therefore not very obvious, for these reasons, that the Babylon of the apocalypse is the professing church that is united with the world?
Babylon is called the “mother of harlots.” Through its daughters, churches must be symbolized that cling to its teachings and traditions and follow its example by sacrificing truth and God’s approval in order to enter an unlawful covenant with the world. ... Undoubtedly [this] concerns the various churches that profess the Protestant faith.
Since Babylon is not a literal city, the fall cannot be a literal overthrow. ... The fall is therefore a moral fall; for after the fall the voice addresses the people of God who are still in its connection: "Go out from it, my people"; and the reason is immediately given: "so that you do not share in its sins and so that you do not receive its plagues.
- Meaning of Babel confusion
- Moral fall of Babylon
- Fallen Protestantism symbolism
Original Sources (English)
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