14 The Righteous are Called Out of Babylon

1 Nephi 22

Revelation

1 Nephi 22:Verse 22

22 And the righteous need not fear, for they are those who shall not be confounded. But it is the kingdom of the devil, which shall be built up among the children of men, which kingdom is established among them which are in the flesh--

Revelation 18:Verse 4

4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Revelation 18:Verse 5

5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

The restoration of the Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ heralds the call to "come out of Babylon" and be not partakers of her wickedness and sin. Those found at the last day standing in the great and spacious building of Babylon, and active in the great and abominable church of the devil will be destroyed with the wicked. Section One of the Doctrine and Covenants is the call to gather to Zion and flee the worldwide empire of Babylon before the destructions come upon her. Babylon will be destroyed along with all those who are caught up in her delicacies. Spiritual Babylon is described as being composed of those who "seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall" (D&C 1:16).

The history of wickedness reveals that the righteous have escaped from Babylon by the "waters" and it is by the "waters of baptism" that mankind may escape from the wickedness and worldliness that Babylon represents. Isaiah declares to those who have "come forth out of the waters of Judah, or out of the waters of baptism, who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel" (1 Nephi 20:1) to "Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter to the end of the earth; say ye: The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob" (1 Nephi 20:20).

The missionary forces have been set up and sent out into the streets and palaces of Babylon to gather those whose hearts are prepared to come out of the wicked world. The restoration has set in motion the gathering of the children of Israel this "last time" (Jacob 5:52-64; 6:2; D&C 24:19; 33:3; 39:17; 43:28; 88:84) to "prepare the saints for the hour of judgment which is to come; that their souls may escape the wrath of God, the desolation of abomination which awaits the wicked" (D&C 88:84-85).

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