THE COMFORT OF BONDAGE

 

 

It always amazes me how the Saviour never washes His hands of Israel no matter how unfaithful they have been. Even when they fall into captivity, He plans and puts into place the process of rescue well before it is supposed to take place. He is a God of order and success.  The return of the Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem 70 years after their captivity began, as predicted by Jeremiah in his book (25:11,12; 29:10) is the prime example of this.

Behind the fulfilment of this prophecy was a Persian king that Jehovah prepared who conquered Babylonians by the name of Cyrus. It is suggested by historians that when Cyrus conquered Babylon that he found Daniel there in his governmental capacity, and that Daniel pointed out to him the prophecy of Isaiah that was given 140 years before the fall of Jerusalem (Isaiah 44:28, 45). Adding seventy years after the fall, makes 210 years of prophecy before Cyrus even appeared in Babylon. Astonishing, isn’t it?

The prophecy states that the Lord would raise up a mighty king who would free the Jewish captives in Babylon and allow them to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the holy city. Cyrus was so impressed with this prophecy about himself that he sent out the proclamation amongst the Jews in Babylon that ‘the Lord God of heaven had charged [him] to build him a house at Jerusalem’ (Ezra 1:2) and asked who among all of God’s people wanted to return. He actually offered freedom to anyone who wanted it.

Now this is the most astonishing bit. Approximately 50,000 people chose to return to Jerusalem while MOST chose not to return having been absorbed into the Babylonian way of life and the comfort of bondage. And this is why. In 605 BC King Nebuchadnezzar of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (now Iraq) was the beginning of Babylon’s greatness and glory. Using slaves from various areas of the empire, he inaugurated a massive building program to make Babylon the greatest city in the world. Opulence, greatness and glory was the object.

The grandeur of Babylon was incredibly impressive but with such opulence and wealth also came moral decay, wickedness and iniquity. Will Durant, a secular historian wrote that “even Alexander [the Great], who was not above dying of drinking was shocked by the morals of Babylon (Our Oriental Heritage, p 244).

Babylon became the antithesis of godliness. The very name of this city stood as the symbol for worldliness, spiritual wickedness and Satan’s kingdom. Scripturally it is known as: “the great whore” and “the mother of harlots and abominations (Rev 17:1; 5; D& C 133:14; 1:16; 1 Nephi 13:5-9; Babylonia and the Conquest of Judah, Old Testament Student Manual p 244).

There is one thing that stands out to me regarding Israel who fell into bondage with Babylon. God himself was in charge of this catastrophe promising Israel that He would bring a nation against them  because of their sins and rejection of Him as their God (Jeremiah 25:7-9). So this is what stands out…..He did not give them into bondage to just any nation but the worst there was, Babylon, a nation so spiritually corroded that it stands out as an obvious product of Israel’s idol worship.

In other words, if they wanted to worship false idols and gods, this is what they got…..spiritual decay and spiritual bondage. This is a classical example of cause and effect. You want other gods? You get what other gods can give you!

The name “Babylon” is today synonymous with ‘the world’. In Section 133 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the saints are commanded to ‘come out of Babylon’ in preparation for the Second Coming (v 5,7). So powerful is its grip that ancient Israelites did not want to leave it.  I wonder how many of us will heed the call this time…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

CREATING ZION

 

“Too many of the people of the world have come to resemble the Babylon of old by walking in their own ways and following a god ‘whose image is in the likeness of the world’ (D&C 1:16).

“One of the greatest challenges we will face is to be able to live in that world but somehow not be of that world. We have to create Zion in the midst of Babylon….

“My involvement with the building of the Manhattan Temple gave me the opportunity to be in the temple quite often prior to the dedication. It was wonderful to sit in the celestial room and be there in perfect silence, without a single sound to be heard coming from the busy New York streets outside. How was it possible that the temple could be so reverently silent when the hustle and bustle of the metropolis was just a few yards away?

“The answer was in the construction of the temple. The temple was built within the walls of an existing building, and the inner walls of the temple were connected to the outer walls at only a very few junction points. That is how the temple (Zion) limited the effects of Babylon, or the world outside.

“There may be a lesson here for us. We can create the real Zion among us by limiting the extent to which Babylon will influence our lives…..

“Wherever we are, whatever city we may live in, we can build our own Zion by the principles of the celestial kingdom and ever seek to become the pure in heart….

“We do not need to become as puppets in the hands of the culture of the place and time. We can be courageous and can walk in the Lord’s paths and follow His footsteps.”

-          Elder David R. Stone, in CR April 2006, 94-97; or Ensign May 2006, 90-93)

I remember talking to one of the sisters in the Church years ago. She said she had gone to the department store to buy some needed dinner plates and she encountered beautiful expensive china there. She inspected it and her concluding thought was: “This is so Babylon”. She decided against buying that china and settled for something more serviceable and less valuable. I was a young and relatively new member of the Church back then and I was in awe of her because she happened to have the financial means to own anything I deemed expensive. I had never forgotten that.

 Now when I see some popular fashions and expensive ware, I remember this sister and think to myself: “This is so Babylon”….. This one thought has over the years taken away all my inclination to follow world trends and seek after the things that are passing and of no spiritual value.

It must be my age but the older I get, the less appeal Babylon has for me. I cannot bear swearing in movies so I have given up on watching them. The novels I used to love getting lost in now speak nothing to me but the voices and values of the world so I have stopped reading them. The shows I used to love watching on streaming services lost their appeal too once I realized most of them centered on crime and murder. I decided I could do without that energy in my life too. The less influence of the world I have in my life, the greater my spirituality and thirst for eternal life.

I want to live in Zion and I want to live with the nobles of heaven one day. Babylon the Great will fall. Nothing in it is permanent and lasting. The world will be done away with but the kingdom of God will go on forever.

Remember, there is no iron rod to the great and spacious building….

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)