Another aspect of the degradation of the church is that of having a name of being living but actually being dead. In Revelation 3:1 the Lord says, “I know your works, that you have a name that you are living, and you are dead.” Here we see that the church had a name of being living, but the Lord says that she was dead. In her dead condition, she needs the seven living Spirits and the shining stars.
In 3:1 the Lord identifies Himself as the One who “has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars.” The seven Spirits of God are for the church to be living intensely, and the seven stars are for her to be shining intensely. To the church in Ephesus, Christ is the One who holds the seven stars and walks in the midst of the seven lampstands. The initial church needed the care of Christ, and her leaders needed His keeping grace. To the church in Smyrna, He is the One who became dead and lived again. The suffering church needed the resurrection life of Christ. To the church in Pergamos, Christ is the One who has the sharp two-edged sword. The degraded, worldly church needed His judging and slaying word. To the church in Thyatira, He is the One who has eyes like flaming fire and feet like shining brass. The apostate church needed His searching and judging. Now to the church in Sardis, He is the One who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. Because this church is dead, she needs the sevenfold, intensified Spirit of God and the shining leaders.
The church in Laodicea prefigures the degraded recovered church. To this church the Lord Jesus said, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am about to vomit you out of My mouth” (3:15-16). Once the recovered church becomes degraded, it is lukewarm-neither cold nor hot. This should be a warning to us. Once we become lukewarm, we are not fitting for the Lord’s move and shall be vomited out of His mouth. When the recovered church becomes degraded, she is in danger, unless she repents to be hot in seeking the rich experiences of the Lord, of being vomited out of the Lord’s mouth. To be vomited out of the Lord’s mouth is to lose the enjoyment of all that the Lord is to His church.
All the aspects of the degradation of the church will consummate in “Babylon the Great, The Mother of the Prostitutes and the Abominations of the Earth” (Rev. 17:5). The proper church life will eventually consummate in the New Jerusalem, and the degraded church will consummate in Babylon the Great, that is, into apostate Christendom, which has deviated from God’s New Testament economy. Whereas the genuine local churches are pure, golden lampstands, today’s Christendom, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant denominations, and the independent groups, is a great mixture altogether lacking in purity. This mixture constitutes Babylon the Great.
Revelation 17:4, speaking of Babylon the Great, says, “The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication.” Purple signifies divinity with authority (John 19:2-3). This color is a blend of blue and red; it signifies the blending of heavenly things with earthly. This is the appearance of the apostate church.
The woman in verse 4 is “gilded with gold and precious stone and pearls,” the materials with which the New Jerusalem is built (Rev. 21:18-19, 21). But the woman, the apostate church, is not solidly built with these precious things as the New Jerusalem is; she is only gilded with these treasures as an ornament for outward display. This is her deception to attract people. It is the prostitute’s false appearance.
The prostitute holds in her hand “a golden cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication.” Gold in figure signifies the divine nature, the nature of God. Hence, the golden cup here means that the apostate church does have something of God in appearance. But within, her golden cup is full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication, full of idolatry, pagan practices, and filthiness in a heretical, sinful, religious relationship.
Revelation 17:5 goes on to say, “And upon her forehead a name was written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of the Prostitutes and the Abominations of the Earth.” Since the Mother of the Prostitutes is the apostate church, the prostitutes, her daughters, should be all the different sects and groups in Christianity who to some extent hold the teachings, practices, and traditions of the apostate Roman Catholic Church. The pure church life has no evil transmitted from the apostate church.
The apostate church is the mother of the abominations of the earth. These abominations are idols (Deut. 7:25-26), with which the apostate Roman Church is filled.
In Revelation 17:4 and 5 we see the real situation of apostate Christendom. The outward appearance is simply a display. Inwardly, apostate Christendom is filled with things that are abominable in the eyes of God. She is unclean to the uttermost, full of idolatry and fornication. This is the consummation of the degradation of the church.
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