The Three Mother Churches

In this article, we are going to study the three mother churches. If you are a member of a Christian church, one of these three mother churches is, no doubt, your spiritual mother. By the end of this study, you should be able to identify whose child you are.

Babylon—The Mother of Harlots

Revelation 17 tells about the first mother church we will study. Notice the characteristics of this mother church. “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and the abominations of theearth.” Revelation 17:1–5.

In Bible prophecy, a woman represents a church. (See Jeremiah 6:2; Isaiah 51:15; 2 Corinthians 11:2.) There are whole books of the Bible, such as the Song of Solomon, that are written with this symbolism. In the book of Hosea, and in Ezekiel 23, an unfaithful church is represented as a harlot.

What is spiritual harlotry or adultery? Let me give an example to help us understand. When you get married, a part of your marriage vow is not only that you will cling to your husband or wife, but also that you will forsake all others. What if you do not forsake all others? Then, you commit adultery. It is this simple; if you have only one husband, then it is holy. But, if you have two or three husbands or two or three wives, then it is not holy any more. It is wicked!

When you become part of the church, part of God’s family, you claim to be joined to one husband—Christ. (See 2 Corinthians 11:2.) If you are “espoused to one husband,” and then you take your affection and you pour it out on people, places or things of this world, what have you done? We can read about it in Ezekiel 23:35, 38. “Therefore thus says the Lord God. ‘Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, therefore you shall bear the penalty of your lewdness and your harlotry.’ The Lord also said to me, ‘Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons whom they bore to Me, passing them through the fire to devour them. Moreover they have done this to Me: They have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and profaned My Sabbaths.’”

When you become part of God’s family, you have one Husband and you are to be faithful to Him. You are to obey Him and keep His commandments. But if you disobey His commandments, then you have forsaken Him for others.

Consider again the woman, which we see in Revelation 17. She is a harlot church, or a church that teaches people to break God’s commandments. (In fact, they break God’s commandments as a part of their religion.) We read in Revelation 18:2, that this same apostate power has “become the prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!” The devil is there, and through that system he teaches men to break the commandments. And if you stay there, if you are a part of Babylon, you will sin just by being part of the system. Revelation 18:4 says, “ ‘Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins and lest you receive of her plagues.’” If you stay in Babylon, you are going to share in her sins and then you are also going to partake of her plagues.

A Worldwide Persecuting power

This system of Babylon, described in Revelation, is a worldwide phenomenon. It is not something that just takes place off in an obscure corner of the world. We read in Revelation 18:3, “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.” All the nations of the world are involved.

“The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of the bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery, all nations were deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.” Revelation 18:23, 24.

I remember about thirty years ago, when I first read this and tried to understand what verse 24 meant when it said that Babylon was guilty for the blood of all the saints. However, as I studied, I found that this was not the first time God has made this pronouncement. Jesus told the Jewish leaders: “Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Barechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” Matthew 23:34, 35.

Here Jesus told the Jews that they would have to give an account for all the righteous blood that is shed upon the earth. How can that be explained? Because they rejected the Messiah. Do you realize that if the Jews had accepted Jesus, all of world history would have been different? (For an interesting study, take these verses in Matthew 23 and read what Ellen White says about them. It is very ominous for Seventh-day Adventists. What happened to the Jews could happen to Adventism if the devil’s plan is followed.)

Just as the Jews will be held accountable for the blood of all the righteous in their day, so God will judge Babylon as guilty for all of the blood of the saints. A careful look at history, behind the scenes, shows the truth of this statement. Very few people really know very much about the true facts of history. But, someday, the curtain will be removed, and it all will be distinctly seen as God has clearly recorded it for every eye to behold when the harlot is judged.

Another proof that Babylon is a worldwide power, is the fact that the Bible says, in Revelation 13:8, that every single person in the world, whose name is not written in the Book of Life, will worship this power for a short time. However, eventually, they will all unite to destroy her when they find out the truth that they are lost. Because God does not desire any to be lost, His message to each person is “Come out.” Those who do not answer this call will meet the same fate as the devil and all of his angels. And so God, in His mercy, wants you to be saved and says, “Come out!”

Have you ever tried to think through what this means when God says, “Come out”? Does coming out of Babylon involve mostly where your body is? Or is it more involved with where your mind is? Does it involve more what church book your name is written on? Or does it involve more where your heart is? Coming out of Babylon is much more involved than some people think. It is much more than just what church book your name is on and where your body is. It has to do with where your mind and your heart are dwelling.

When God called Lot and his family to come out of Sodom, Lot’s wife got her body out but she never got her heart out. Have you ever asked yourself the question, Am I totally out of Babylon? Or am I like Lot’s wife? My body is out of Babylon, but my heart is still there.

From Milk to Solid Food

What we have just studied is an elementary principle of the Bible. But we cannot always feed on the milk if we are going to grow up fully into Christ, and so I want to study, in the rest of this article, some deeper Bible principles which are necessary in order for us to understand the last two mother churches.

We have looked, so far, at the first mother church, Babylon, or the harlot church. The other two mother churches we find described in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In Galatians 1:1, Paul makes it very clear that he is addressing his letter to the churches in Galatia. As Paul wrote this letter, he was in great agony of heart, because the churches were in a state of apostasy as the result of false teachers who had come in among them. Where did these false teachers came from? Did they come from Babylon, the center of the devil’s operation? No. They came from Jerusalem—the General Conference, or the world headquarters for the apostolic church.

In Galatians 4:8–16, Paul describes the apostasy these false teachers from Jerusalem had led the Galatians into. “But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. [Some people try to use verse 10 against Seventh-day Adventists, but we do not qualify. We do not observe days, we only observe the seventh day Sabbath. Nor do we observe months or seasons or years in Historic Adventism.] I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?”

The very ones who Paul describes as leading the Galatians back to the “beggarly elements,” were teachers that came from the world headquarters of the apostolic church. The situation was so serious that Ellen White says the apostle Paul had to stand alone in opposition to the twelve disciples of Jesus—the twelve that were with Jesus when He walked among men. Paul even had to openly rebuke Peter because he was Judaizing. (See Galatians 2:11–14; The Acts of the Apostles, 199, 120.)

Can you imagine what a difficult situation it must have been for the Galatians, when leaders from Jerusalem, with the support of the disciples, began teaching that they had to keep the ceremonial law. Many must have thought, “These men must be right because they come from the disciples, the very men who walked and talked with Jesus. The apostle Paul, he must be speaking a dangerous doctrine!”

The situation was still more complicated because Paul was not dealing with the Jews here, he was dealing with Christians from the church at Jerusalem who were still keeping the ceremonial law, even though it had met its complete fulfillment in the death and resurrection of Christ. Paul continued: “They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.” Galatians 4:17–20.

The Bondwomen and the Free

Now, notice his arguments starting in Verse 21: “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.” Galatians 4:21–25.

So Hagar, it clearly says, is a mother, for she is still in bondage with her children. So, who then does Paul use to represent the third mother church? “But the Jerusalem above is free. Which is the mother of us all. For it is written: Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what does the Scripture say, Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.” Galatians 4:26–31; 5:1–6, 11.

“As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast of your flesh. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” Galatians 6:12–15.

Let us consider what Paul was facing. Here were these false teachers coming from Jerusalem. But they were not Jews, they were Christians who were speaking the sentiments of the disciples, and they were teaching that the ceremonial law still had to be kept. Why did they believe it still needed to be kept? Ellen White is very specific that they kept the ceremonial law, not so much because they believed in it any more, but because they wanted to avoid persecution. (Have you ever heard anyone say, “It is not time yet to distribute The Great Controversy”? That reflects the same kind of thinking as these early Christians had.)

Children in Bondage

Paul repeats over and over again that Hagar, this mother church, is in bondage with all of her children. What does he mean that they are in bondage? They are in bondage to sin. That is the main difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In the Old Covenant, a person had to come every year to the Most Holy Place for the Day of Atonement. Why did they have to come every year? Because they had not quit sinning. If you quit sinning, Paul says in Hebrews 10, then you would not have to come anymore.

In the New Covenant there is no Day of Atonement year after year after year. There is just one Day of Atonement period at the end of the world. Why, because a way has been opened that men do not need to keep sinning and confessing and sinning and confessing.

Did you notice that the people who are in Hagar’s church, who have the Old Covenant experience, want to avoid persecution so they are keeping the ceremonial law. But who are they actually persecuting in the process? Notice it says in Galatians 4:29, “He who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit. Even so it is now.” Who were they persecuting? They were persecuting the true church. They professed to be the true church, but Hagar was their mother. They were still in the Old Covenant experience and they still had a yoke of bondage.

What is the yoke of bondage? The yoke of bondage is the law that you cannot keep. Theologians have tried to explain it by saying that the Jews made so many regulations that the people could not keep the law. (And that is true.) Other theologians have looked at the yoke of bondage and have said, “Well, the yoke of bondage is this ceremonial law.” However, when you look at the bottom line, all the evidence points to one thing: The yoke of bondage is a law that you cannot keep. But when you come to Jesus, friend, you are set free and then you can keep this law—the Ten Commandments. You are free. You have been made free and you do not have to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

There is another identifying mark that differentiates between the two mother churches. One is born according to the flesh and the other is born according to the promise or according to the Spirit. All throughout Paul’s writings these two antithesis are presented. For example, Galatians 5:16–18. “I say then: Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

The Children of Promise

We have now looked at Hagar, the second mother church, let us now turn our attention to the third mother church represented by Sarah and by the New Jerusalem. Here are the identifying marks. (You can find all of these right in the book of Galatians.)

This church is born free. The first time we are born, we are all born in sin, and thus sons of the devil. 1 John 3:8. However, Jesus told Nicodemus, If you want to go to the kingdom of heaven, you must be born again. And when you are born again, you are born free, your are born in the Spirit, not according to the flesh. This church is born free, that is, they are born again.

The headquarters of this church is in heaven, it is not in this world. It is not in Jerusalem, not in Takoma Park, not in Hagarstown. It is in heaven. That is what Paul says in Galatians 4:26: “But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.”

The children of the promise do not have an Old Covenant experience, they have a New Covenant experience. In the Old Covenant the conscience is never purged from sins, so you must keep coming back to the Sanctuary every year and have another Day of Atonement, but in the New Covenant you overcome sin and receive the victory over it.

In heaven, Jesus will not be serving as a Mediator or as your High Priest through all of eternity. No, that will all be over because all who go there will have overcome sin and will have no need of a Mediator anymore. In fact, God’s children, that live in this world during the time of trouble, are not going to have a Mediator. They will not need one because they will have overcome all sin. (See The Great Controversy, 425.)

These are the children of the promise, and their future is wonderful. But what will happen to Hagar’s spiritual children? They will be cast out and will not inherit the New Covenant promises. (See Galatians 4:30.) This is very serious. If Hagar is your mother, you are not going to heaven unless you receive the adoption of sons. You would be just as lost as if you were in Babylon.

Stand Up!

What was Paul’s instruction to the Galatian churches who were being brought into bondage? “Stand up in the freedom in which Christ has made you free.” And who were these people? They were just little independent churches scattered all over Asia and Europe. And they must have thought, “But we are just tiny groups and we do not have all the experience that the leaders back in Jerusalem have.” But Paul said, “Stand up! You are free and you must not allow these false teachers to lead you back into bondage again.”

I want to tell you, people have lost freedom in Adventism today. When I was a boy in Adventism, anyone was encouraged to go anywhere they could and start up a church. Now they want to close all the little churches down. They are afraid of anyone starting a church, because they are afraid it might not be under their control. What has happened to people’s thinking? Do you recognize that when people start to talk like that and think like that, they are not part of the church whose headquarters is in the New Jerusalem? Through Christ all are free, and all have been given the commission to take the gospel to every nation, kindred, tribe and people.

The apostle Paul knew that. He said, “We have hope of righteousness.” We expectantly wait for it. What is this righteousness? It is not a righteousness which you work out through certain religious rituals or political games. It is righteousness by faith—a faith that works through love. That is what counts in the sight of God.

What counts in your church, friend? Is it the equivalent of circumcision, religious rituals and political games, or is it faith that works by love? If your mother is the New Jerusalem, it is faith that works by love.

And what will we do if we are filled with this faith that works by love? Paul says, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh…But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the [condemnation] of the law.” Galatians 5:16, 18. If you are walking in the Spirit, overcoming the lusts of the flesh, you will also be bearing the fruits of the Spirit which Paul describes in Galatians 5:22, 23. You will become a new creation.

Who is the Israel of God? The Israel of God is not the children of Hagar who are in bondage to sin. I am not out to judge who is a member of what church but the fruit indicates that the great majority of Seventh-day Adventists, today, are children of Hagar, not Sarah. They are professors of Christianity, but everything in their system is down here in this world. They are in bondage. They have an Old Covenant experience. And not only that, they are persecuting the people who are seeking the New Covenant experience. They disfellowship them and get them out of their way. By the way, if you are persecuting people that do not think like you do on theology, that is absolute proof that your mother is Hagar. Anytime any person or any group of people decides they can disfellowship someone for non-Biblical reasons or stone them or take them to court or put them in jail or beat them up (all of those things have happened), that group of people does not belong to the New Jerusalem church. Hagar is their mother.

But the people, whose mother is the New Jerusalem, are born free. Their headquarters is not down here in this world. They have leaders and are organized, but their headquarters is not really down here. Their headquarters is in heaven. They are children of the promise. They stand in freedom and they hope for righteousness from the Holy Spirit that the Lord will give to them. They live by faith that works through love.

Who is your mother? Is she over in Babylon? Or does she dwell in earthly Jerusalem? Or have you been born free? Are you walking according to the Spirit? Are you a child of the promise? Are you receiving a righteousness that is not woven in any earthly loom? Are you operating on the principle of faith that works by love? Are you manifesting the fruits of the Spirit? Are you a new creation? I invite you to ask the Lord to work out this miracle in your life.