“The present work of gathering the Lord's saints out of Babylon is represented under various symbolic descriptions,—it is the gathering of the wheat from the tares into the barn (Matt. 13:30): it is the gathering of the good fish into baskets and the casting of the unsuitable fish caught in the Gospel net back into the sea (Matt. 13:47-49); it is the gathering of His jewels (Mal. 3:17); it is the midnight cry to the virgins, which separates the wise from the foolish (Matt. 25:6); and it is the gathering of the ‘Elect’ from all the non-elect of Christendom, from the four winds—from every quarter.” (Matt. 24:31.) (D. 600.) “Lot's wife, after starting to flee as directed, ‘looked back;’ coveting the things behind: and so with some now fleeing from Babylon to the mountain (Kingdom) of the Lord; they are more in sympathy with the things behind than with the things before. Only those will run the race to the finish who set their affections on the things above, and not on the things beneath.” (D. 608.)
“Those who thus flee to the Lord will neither be consumed by fear and dread, nor swallowed up by the projects and false theories—science falsely so called—with which this day abounds. And, withal, they may be in the devouring fire [trouble], witnesses for God and His Plan, and teachers of the people—pointers to the glorious outcome of Jehovah's Plan, lifting up a standard for the people.—Isa. 62:10.” (B. 31.) “The tables of the various sects of Christendom were started as tables of the Lord, and adorned to some extent with food from His storehouse, the Word. But the great Adversary placed upon these tables errors, delusions, doctrines of devils, which have blemished them as a whole; wherefore it is appropriate now to apply to them the words of the Scriptures, ‘Come out from amongst them and be ye separate; touch not the unclean thing.’ ” (Z. '07-91.) “Our friends, like Abraham's friends, would persuade us of the folly of leaving Babylon, its comforts and associations: they assure us that our opportunities for greatness, etc., will be distinctly lessened by the course of obedience which we take. Nevertheless we, like Abram, go forth taking all of our [pg 279] possessions with us, great or small—nothing must be left behind to be a treasure in Babylon and to attract our hearts thither again. All things must be brought with us so that not our own lives and talents only, but our influence upon others, must all be made to count.” (Z. '01-231) “As to missionary activities (Matt. 23:15), what advantage can accrue to the heathen from giving them the false doctrines of the Adversary? The few who may be reached will have the more to unlearn when the Times of Restitution begin.”—F. 641.
My people.—“We would not be understood as including all Christians as ‘Babylonians.’ Quite to the contrary. As the Lord recognizes some in Babylon as true to Him and addresses them now, saying, ‘Come out of her, My people’ (Rev. 18:4), so do we; and we rejoice to believe that there are today thousands who have not bowed the knee to the Baal of our day—Mammon, Pride and Ambition. Those who will not come out until Babylon falls and they come through the ‘great tribulation’ (Rev. 7:9-14) shall not be accounted worthy to share the Kingdom. Compare Rev. 2:26; 3:21; Matt. 10:37; Mark 8:34, 35; Luke 14:26, 27.” (See Micah 2:10; Jer. 12:7-11; 23:33-40; Jer. 11:14, 15; Prov. 19:27; Matt. 14:28, 29; Hos. 4:6; Isa. 27:12.) “The begetting of spiritual children of God, through the Word of His grace, and their being to some extent cherished, nourished and brought forward by these human sectarian tare systems, is well illustrated by certain insects, the young of which are injected into the backs of their enemies, and there warmed, nourished and developed, up to the time of their complete birth and deliverance, which means, usually, the death of the insect which temporarily carried them about.” (F. 656.) Now the point of deliverance has been reached.
That ye be not partakers of her sins.—“If you fail to obey the Lord through fear of earthly loss, it will prove that these things are more precious to you than His favor, and He will treat you as He treats the hypocrites; you will have a share in their experiences.” (Z. '14-180.) “We do not know but that they may go to the extreme in our day—to kill socially, to kill ecclesiastically, perhaps to kill physically. Nearly all the persecutions that have come to God's people have come from professed Christians, fellow-believers. ‘Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for My Name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified; but He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.’ (Isaiah 66:5.)”—Z. '14-181; Num. 16:26.
And that ye receive not of her plagues.—See Rev. 16:1-21.
18:5. For her sins [have reached] CLEAVED TOGETHER unto Heaven.—Ezekiel has touched on this!—Jer. 51:9; Gen. 11:3, 4; Luke 10:11.
And God hath remembered her iniquities.—By seven plagues; the seven volumes of Studies in the Scriptures.—Rev. 16:1-21. See also bottom of this page.
18:6. Reward her even as she rewarded [you].—A diligent attempt has been made in this direction. Anything overlooked will be inserted in the next edition.—Psa. 137:8; Jer. 50:15, 29; 51:24.
[And] double unto her double according to her works.—Make a double exposition (explaining Revelation and Ezekiel) that will show her up just as she is.
In [the] HER cup which she hath filled.—The Scriptures which she has twisted, distorted and misapplied. “The cup which she has used as a means of seduction shall now be changed into the instrument of her punishment.”—Cook.