Revelation Chapter 18
VERSE 5 “For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.”
FOR HER SINS HAVE PILED UP (Literally = JOINED TOGETHER) AS HIGH AS HEAVEN: The thought seems to be that heaven (God) can no longer overlook the accumulation of sins. They are past excusing or cleansing.
AND GOD HAS REMEMBERED HER INIQUITIES: God tends to forget iniquities if things are going in the right direction. (See Ezek. 18:21, 22.) The fact that God is here said to be remembering the iniquities is proof that Babylon is incorrigible.
“We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let us go everyone to his own country; For her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies.” Jer 51:9
Brother Shallieu’s remarks on Verse 5:
Cornelius, the centurion, was “a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always” (Acts 10:2). Although God could not fully respond to the good deeds of the centurion because of a prior commitment, He kept a record of them. These deeds accumulated as “a memorial before God” until A.D. 36, the year marking the termination of the seventy weeks (70 x 7 = 490 years) of exclusive favor promised to Israel (Acts 10:4). At this point in time, the prayers of Cornelius were answered: the Holy Spirit came upon this Gentile convert just as it had come three years earlier upon the Jewish converts to Christ at Pentecost in A.D. 33.
In similar manner but not in similar kind, Babylon’s bloodguilt and sins accumulated for centuries until they reached up into heaven demanding, as it were, recognition. The Lord foresaw and declared, “I gave her space [Greek chronos, 360 years] to repent of her fornication [A.D. 1157 + 360 = A.D. 1517]; and she repented not” (Rev. 2:21).
A second opportunity of repentance was afforded to Babylon: “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, . . . and they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? . . . and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a . . . season [chronos, 360 years from A.D. 1517 + 360 = spring of A.D. 1878]” (Rev. 6:9–11). After two opportunities to repent, Babylon still has not shown any remorse for her dreadful deeds of the past. Therefore, her fate is sealed and the execution of that penalty draws nigh.
VERSE 6 “Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.”
PAY HER BACK: Verses 6-8 are from the “voice.”
Are they a prayer to God to do these things?
Or are they an encouragement to the saints who have “come out of her” to enter the work of her judgment?
It is likely BOTH. The distinction might be unimportant since the saints are SUPPOSED to be doing whatever God is doing at this time. Brother Russell knew what God was doing and would be doing to Babylon. The end of Verse 8 gives God the credit. But the saints beyond the veil and in the flesh have the honor of cooperation in this judgment. Those beyond cooperate in most powerful ways. We who remain spread the words (the truth) which eat away at the error. (Psa. 149:5-9) Let us all participate in the PAYBACK.
EVEN AS SHE PAID:
How did Babylon historically “pay” the saints?
Many ways. There were words; there were actions; there was spiritual isolation; there were tortures; there was death. All of these things are and will be the lot of Babylon in its “payback” period.
AND GIVE BACK TO HER DOUBLE ACCORDING TO HER DEEDS: Double to some means to give the same amount (i.e., duplicate). However, the lexicons seem of one mind that this means twice as much. This could be a difficult concept except that we know of certain important “doubles.”
For instance, Babylon paid out DEATH; but she will be paid back SECOND DEATH — a much worse fate. Whatever Babylon paid to the saints did not destroy their faith if it were true. On the contrary, her payback will destroy her “faith” — and the faith any have in her. She gets a “double whammy” in retribution for everything she gave out.
PEOPLE in her don’t get it; SHE gets it. The addition of the phrase “according to her deeds” seems to say, “She deserves it.”
“The horrible decree of Papacy–for torturing of the saints in every conceivable way, executed with such fiendish cruelty by the arm of the state–awaits the full measure of retribution.” D39
All in all, this sentence seems to have no mercy. (See Ezek. 9:5) To those beyond the veil participating in this work, their judgment as to what this means will be directed by Jesus. To us on this side of the veil, it is imperative that we not see this as a license for vindictiveness or vengeance. Rather, it seems to say to us not to have any sympathy whatsoever for Babylon, its teachings, its ways, its works, or its adherents.
IN THE CUP WHICH SHE HAS MIXED: The “mixed” cup here does not refer to Babylon’s mixing of truth with error because THAT cannot be what she gets back. This symbolism seems more like a statement that she PLANNED experiences to frustrate the faith of those with whom she did not agree.
MIX TWICE AS MUCH FOR HER: Give her back the experiences which destroy faith in her. PLAN ways of letting people know of her errors.
Send a cup mixed with tracts, books, television, radio, public witnessing, private conversations, computer programs, videotape, mailings, computer internet, etc., etc. In a few months, we can MORE THAN DOUBLE what she sent out over the centuries. Don’t let up! Those saints on the other side can add to the mixture some economic, political, and social woes. It is a wonderful mixture! It will eventually poison her — See Rev 16:19.
Brother Shallieu’s thoughts on Verse 6:
“Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.”
The Sinaitic omission of the pronoun “you” helps to remove an apparent difficulty in understanding the opening clause of this verse. It clarifies the meaning to translate the passage thus:
“Reward [render unto] her even as she rewarded [rendered unto] others.” The Christian, during his earthly sojourn, is to “fight the good fight of FAITH” and not to battle with carnal weapons inflicting corporal punishment. Neither are followers of the Lamb to return evil for evil or slander for slander (Rom. 12:17), for they are enjoined to combat error only with the sword of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth.
The command to “double unto her double according to her works” cannot refer to the imposition of a new dispensational double in time or to a form of retribution twice as severe as Babylon rendered to others.
What, then, is the thought behind these two injunctions to “reward” and “double”?
The solution lies in the statement concluding the verse: “in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.”
The apostate Church has assumed the role of being the sole authorized teacher of the Bible and, accordingly, has dispensed to others the purported elixir of life drawn from that receptacle of truth. This “cup,” however, has been filled with a mixed wine of truth and error, which produces a stupefying drink.
Combining, therefore, all three elements of the verse—the rewarding, the doubling, and the filling of the cup—indicates the form of retribution performed by the saints this side of the veil. The retribution is to be along doctrinal lines; namely, exposing popular errors and espousing unpopular truths, and countering Papacy’s fraudulent scriptural claims with the true application of Holy Writ.
We will take a look at Verse 7 in our next post.
