I.　There are four visions in the book of Revelation, and we must be in our spirit to see all four—the visions of the local churches, the world, Babylon, and the New Jerusalem—Rev. 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10:

A.　There are three places where we may be today—the local churches, the world, or Babylon.

B.　Babylon is mixed with the world, and the local churches are the miniature of the New Jerusalem.

C.　All of the negative differences of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 are either of the world or of Babylon—2:1a, 2, 4, 12a, 13-15, 18a, 20; 3:14-15, 17.

II.　In the Bible there are two lines that run parallel to each other—the line of Babylon and the line of Jerusalem:

A.　Babylon begins in Genesis 11 and runs throughout the whole Bible until it reaches its consummation and destruction in Revelation 17 and 18; eventually Babylon will be destroyed and the New Jerusalem will be built up.

B.　God's intention is to have a universal, corporate vessel to contain Him, and this vessel will be the New Jerusalem (21:2); but before Jerusalem, there is a counterfeit called Babylon.

C.　Of the two women spoken of in Revelation 17—18 and 21—22, one is called the great harlot, the great Babylon, and the other is called the bride, the holy city, New Jerusalem—17:1-6; 19:7-9; 21:2, 9-10:

1.　When the Holy Spirit inspired man to write the Scriptures, He purposely used a parallel structure in pointing to these two women so that we would have a clear impression.

2.　The harlot spoken of in Revelation 17 and 18 is Babylon, whose deeds are extremely displeasing to God.

3.　May God open our eyes so that we would really see Babylon according to the Scriptures.

III.　We need to be one with Christ to release God's people from Babylon (apostate Christendom) and the principle of Babylon; anything that is Babylonian gives Satan the ground to defeat the people of God—Isa. 48:20; 41:21-29; Ezra 1:1-4, 11; Rev. 17:3-5; Josh. 7:21:

A.　The principle of Babylon is man's endeavor to build up something from earth to heaven by human ability—Gen. 11:1-9; 1 Cor. 3:12.

B.　The principle of Babylon is hypocrisy—Rev. 17:4, 6; Matt. 23:25-32; Josh. 7:21; Acts 5:1-11; Matt. 15:7-8; 6:1-6.

C.　The principle of Babylon is that of not considering herself a widow but of glorifying herself and living luxuriously—Isa. 47:8b; Rev. 18:7; Luke 18:3; Matt. 9:14-15.

D.　The principle of Babylon is for man to make a name for himself and deny God's name—Gen. 11:4; Rev. 3:8; 2 Cor. 11:2; 1 Cor. 1:10.

E.　The principle of Babylon is division with confusion—Gen. 11:6-7; cf. Rom. 15:5-6; 1 Cor. 1:10; Phil. 2:2; 1 Tim. 1:3-4.

F.　The principle of Babylon is scattering, with each one going his own way and his own direction—Gen. 11:8; cf. Deut. 16:16; Psa. 133; cf. 1 Kings 12:26-32.

G.　The principle of Babylon is mixture; anything which is halfway and not absolute is called Babylon—2 Chron. 36:6-7; Ezra 1:11; cf. 2 Kings 17:8.

H.　God hates the principle of Babylon more than anything else—Rev. 11:18b; 18:21-24; 19:2; cf. Rev. 2:6.

I.　The Lord's call in the book of Revelation is for His people to come out of Babylon—Isa. 52:11-12; Rev. 18:4-5.

J.　The history among us has been one of completely coming out of Christianity without compromise; while we choose to love all the brothers, we also want to be today's "Antipas" as an anti-witness, bearing an anti-testimony, a testimony against anything that deviates from the testimony of Jesus— Rev. 2:13; 3:7-8.

IV.　Jerusalem signifies both the genuine ground of oneness, the ground of locality, and our spirit; in order to come out of Babylon, we must be "in spirit, on the ground"—Hymns, #1260:

A.　God chose a place out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name and to build up His habitation; they all had to come to that unique place to worship the Lord for the keeping of the oneness—Deut. 12:5; 16:16; Psa. 133.

B.　We have separated ourselves from human opinions and organization and have returned to the original ground of the church, the ground of one locality with one church, to meet and worship in spirit as a testimony of the Lord—Acts 8:1; 13:1; Rev. 1:11; John 4:23-24; Eph. 2:22.

C.　In Jerusalem, the house of God was built, and the glory of God filled that house (1 Kings 8:10-11); that was the golden age of the history of the people of Israel.

D.　The sin of Jeroboam, who set up another center of worship, is the sin of division caused by one's ambition to have a kingdom, an empire, to satisfy his selfish desire—12:26-32.

E.　Babylon is division and confusion, whereas Jerusalem is the oneness in our spirit:

1.　When we are in our mind, we are in the principle of Babylon; when we are in our spirit, we are in today's Jerusalem, in which there is the divine oneness—John 4:23-24; Eph. 4:3.

2.　Whenever you stay in your mind, you remain in Babylon; when you turn from your mind to your spirit, you turn to Jerusalem—Rom. 8:6.

3.　The call from the Lord in Revelation 18:4 is to come out of Babylon; this means to come out of your mind.

F.　The Lord's recovery is for fully bringing us out of Babylon and fully back to being in the Spirit and in the Body for the divine oneness—Eph. 4:2-4a; Rev. 22:17a; John 17:21.