if we are going to have any success in identifying MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH, we are going to have to search for clues throughout all of scripture. the answers are contained within if we know where to look for them.
let's examine exodus 32:
32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
32:2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
32:3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
here we have a clear example of the children of israel forsaking God their husband when they went a whoring after other gods. this is exactly the kind of spiritual fornication spoken of the great whore babylon in revelation.
32:10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation
Revelation 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
now after moses makes intercession on behalf of his people (moses is a type of Christ, who intercedes on our behalf before God), we pick up the story:
32:19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
with spiritual discernment we may note this tantrum of moses is actually a prophecy. moses throwing down and breaking the tables of stone is showing that the children of israel would break the covenant made with the Lord.
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: --Jeremiah 31:32
i don't think it is just a coincidence that our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of breaking the covenant, and of being a husband to them together here in the same verse of jeremiah. the mention of their fathers in the day God took them out of egypt also confirms this refers to the story we are examining in exodus 32.
now recall prior we looked at ezekiel 16. notice the similarities to jeremiah and exodus 32. the Lord once again refers to himself as a husband. jerusalem is called a harlot, a whore, worshipping idols of abominations, breaking the covenant.
16:1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
16:2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
16:15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
16:22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.
16:26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.
16:28 Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.
16:29 Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied therewith.
16:30 How weak is thine heart, saith the LORD GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;
16:32 But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!
16:36 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;
16:38 And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
16:44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.
16:45 Thou art thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.
16:59 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
16:61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.
(notice in the last verse jerusalem will in the future change from a daughter and a sister to a mother--the mother of harlots and abominations.)
ok, so we have established that moses was showing by example that the children of israel would break the covenant. we know from the story that God made new tables of covenant replacing the broken ones moses threw down. this is of course symbolizing the new covenant that was established when Christ shed his blood. the old covenant was replaced by the new, just as the broken tables of the covenant were replaced anew.
back to the passage in jeremiah:
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah --Jeremiah 31:31
now recall that moses is a type or figure of Christ. (for example moses fasted 40 days and nights at sinai, and Christ fasted 40 days and nights in the wilderness).
the other significance to moses breaking the tables of stone was to show that Christ would be broken. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." (Romans 10:4). "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2). Christ is the new covenant, the new testament, the new law. Just as God raised new tables for moses, he raised His son (the law) after Christ was broken on the cross.
ok, now let's return to the story of moses in exodus 32:
32:20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
moses makes the children of israel drink the powder of the golden calf. the significance of this will make sense if we turn to the book of numbers chapter 5.
Numbers 5:12 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,
this is exactly what the children of israel did. they committed a trespass against their husband the Lord when they worshipped the golden calf.
Numbers 5:14 And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:
5:15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
notice the similarity to the harlot spoken of in ezekiel 16:38, "And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy"
in numbers 5 (speaking of the law of jealousy) it says "bringing iniquity to remembrance". this same terminology is used in verse 19 of revelation 16 which we just looked at:
16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Numbers 5:17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water:
just as moses scattered the dust of gold in the water for the children of israel to drink.
5:18 And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:
Christ is the eternal high priest after the order of Melchizedek that gives mystery babylon the golden cup of his wrath. "and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath."
5:24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter
moses (a type of Christ) caused the whoring children of israel to drink the golden dust of their idol worship, the priest (a type of Christ) makes a defiled woman drink the bitter water from the dust of the tabernacle, and Christ (our eternal high priest) will make the great whore in revelation drink of the golden cup of the fierceness of his wrath.
Exodus 32:25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)
Revelation 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Revelation 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Exodus 32:26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
32:27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
32:28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
God separates those who are clean from those who are defiled.
so with the woman of jealousies:
Numbers 5:27 And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
5:28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
5:29 This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;
Deuteronomy 9 also relates some more of the story of the children of israel and the golden calf:
Deuteronomy 9:7 Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.
9:8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.
9:9 When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:
9:10 And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
9:11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.
9:12 And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
9:15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.
9:16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you.
9:17 And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.
9:21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount |
