The unfaithfulness of the church to Christ in permitting her confidence and affection to be turned from Him , and allowing the love of worldly things to occupy the soul , is likened to the violation of the marriage vow . The sin of Israel in departing from the Lord is presented under this figure ; and the wonderful love of God which they thus despised is touchingly portrayed : " I sware unto thee , and entered into a covenant with thee , saith the Lord God , and thou becamest Mine ." " And thou wast exceeding beautiful and thou didst prosper into a kingdom . And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty : for it was perfect through My comeliness , which I had put upon thee . . . . But thou didst trust in thine own beauty , and playedst the harlot because of thy renown ." " As a wife treacherously departeth from her husband , so have ye dealt treacherously with Me , O house of Israel , saith the Lord ;" " as a wife that committeth adultery , which taketh strangers instead of her husband !" Ezekiel 16:8 , 13-15 , 32 ; Jeremiah 3:20 .
In the New Testament , language very similar is addressed to professed Christians who seek the friendship of the world above the favour of God . Says the apostle James : " Ye adulterers and adulteresses , know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God ? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God ." The woman ( Babylon ) of Revelation 17 is described as " arrayed in purple and scarlet colour , and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls , having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness :... and upon her forehead was a name written , Mystery , Babylon the Great , the mother of harlots ."
Says the prophet : " I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints , and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus ." Babylon is further declared to be " that great city , which reigneth over the kings of the earth ." Revelation 17:4-6 , 18 . The power that for so many centuries maintained despotic sway over the monarchs of Christendom is Rome . The purple and scarlet colour , the gold and precious stones and pearls , vividly picture the magnificence and more than kingly pomp affected by the haughty see of Rome . And no other power could be so truly declared " drunken with the blood of the saints " as that church which has so cruelly persecuted the followers of Christ . Babylon is also charged with the sin of unlawful connection with " the kings of the earth ." It was by departure from the Lord , and alliance with the heathen , that the Jewish church became a harlot ; and Rome , corrupting herself in like manner by seeking the support of worldly powers , receives a like condemnation .
Babylon is said to be " the mother of harlots ." By her daughters must be symbolized churches that cling to her doctrines and traditions , and follow her example of sacrificing the truth and the approval of God , in order to form an unlawful alliance with the world . The message of Revelation 14 , announcing the fall of Babylon must apply to religious bodies that were once pure and have become corrupt . Since this message follows the warning of the judgment , it must be given in the last days ; therefore it cannot refer to the Roman Church alone , for that church has been in a fallen condition for many centuries . Furthermore , in the eighteenth chapter of the Revelation the people
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