The Second Angel's Message

When Advent believers were expelled from the established churches in the 1800s, they came to believe that because these churches refused to accept God’s warning, they had fallen in the eyes of God.

They associated this fall with the fall of Babylon—the Second Angel’s Message in Revelation 14:8:

And another angel followed, saying, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication" (NKJV).

Ancient Babylon was opposed to Israel. Babylon enticed Jerusalem into paganism and idolatry. Babylon eventually took the whole nation of Israel captive, and only a small remnant returned to rebuild the ancient ruins.

God pronounced judgment on ancient Babylon:

Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand,
That made all the earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;
Therefore the nations are deranged.
Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed.
Wail for her!
Take balm for her pain;
Perhaps she may be healed.
We would have healed Babylon,
But she is not healed.
Forsake her, and let us go everyone to his own country;
For her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies (Jeremiah 51:7-9 NKJV).

In similar fashion, antitypical Babylon—the confederacy of religious powers that opposes God at the end of time—will lead people astray and take them captive through her numerous false doctrines. The same judgment pronounced in Jeremiah 51:8 on ancient Babylon is given to end-time Babylon in Revelation 14:8. And, the same call given in Jeremiah 51:6 and 9 to come out of Babylon is given in Revelation 18:1-5:

After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury." And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities" (NKJV).

The Second Angel announces the fall of Babylon, but the loud call to "come out of her my people" is made later. God’s people are thus still in Babylon. It is Babylon's system of religious structures aligned against God that is condemned—not the individuals.

There are two calls out of Babylon. Just as Jesus began and ended His ministry on Earth by cleansing the temple, so there are two calls to the churches at the end of time. The first of these calls was made at the beginning of the Advent movement around 1844, and was confined largely to America, whereas the final call will be worldwide and climax in the loud cry just prior to the close of probation. This experience will be accompanied by the outpouring of the latter rain.

Read about the Third Angel's Message