The call to come out of Babylon brings me back to a distinction that has followed this study from the beginning: we need to examine what someone does, what they are made to carry, and how they respond to God.
Those details cannot simply be exchanged for one another.
A person may be surrounded by wrongdoing without approving it. Someone may carry the consequences of another’s actions. Meanwhile, an outward appearance of faithfulness can conceal participation in the very things God condemns.
The People Called to Come Out
In Revelation 18:4–5, the call addresses God’s people within Babylon and tells them to leave so they do not share in her sins and plagues.
The wording distinguishes the people being called from the wrongdoing surrounding them. But it also requires a response. Being addressed as His people does not make the warning unnecessary.
As I consider this, I understand coming out to involve more than changing an outward association. The passage specifically brings participation in sin into view. What someone continues to support, practice, or excuse matters.
Rahab’s Description and Her Response
This takes me back to Rahab.
Hebrews 11:31 retains the description of her as a harlot while recognizing her faith and her reception of the spies. She does not perish with the disobedient.
I do not need to remove the description Scripture gives her to recognize the distinction Scripture makes about her response.
Nor does the shared word harlot make Rahab and Babylon the same figure. Their actions and outcomes must remain part of the comparison. A word can open a study connection without settling the identity of everyone described by it.
That is important to me because a person’s description does not tell the whole account. I need to keep reading.
Carrying What Belongs to Another
The atonement passage gives us another distinction.
In Leviticus 16:21–22, Israel’s confessed sins are placed upon the living goat’s head, and the goat carries them away. The sins belong to the people; the goat’s role is to bear what is placed upon it.
Carrying sin is therefore not automatically the same as committing it.
This does not decide every other passage about bearing iniquity. It gives us a question to preserve as those passages arise: whose wrongdoing is being described, and what role does the bearer actually have?
When Worship and Conduct Separate
Isaiah presents the other side of this concern. The formerly faithful city is called a harlot, with corruption and neglect of the vulnerable among the stated charges. Isaiah 1:21–23
Earlier in the chapter, assemblies, appointed times, and prayers continue alongside wrongdoing. The required response includes abandoning evil, seeking justice, and defending those without protection. Isaiah 1:13–17
That brings us directly back to our study of appointed seasons. Observing an appointment does not excuse disregarding the One who appointed it.
As I follow these comparisons, I want to keep both distinctions clear: outward religious standing does not establish faithfulness, and carrying another’s wrongdoing does not establish personal guilt.
Threads to Follow
Coming out of Babylon and refusing participation in her sins.
Rahab’s faith compared with the conduct of the condemned city.
Bearing iniquity, including the related Ezekiel discussions.
Appointed assemblies, justice, and the response God requires.
The books were opened…
🌿 By Maria Emilia
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