Revelation 18:4: 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.

In Revelation 18:1-2, John foresaw the spiritual fall of Modern Babylon at the midpoint of Armageddon when Christ comes to Adam-ondi-Ahman for his coronation.¹ In his continuing vision, John heard God the Father speak as another voice from heaven.² Some scholars believe this other voice is Jesus Christ rather than God the Father.³ However, the other voice must be the Father's voice because John specifically distinguishes this other voice from that of Jesus Christ, who is the angel with a strong voice in Revelation 18:1-2. When the Father speaks as another voice from heaven, he commands his people⁴ to leave Modern Babylon both spiritually and physically, saying: "Come out of her my people."⁵ In this verse, my people, refers to God's children and his covenant people who are members of the true church.⁶

Faithful members of the church come out of Babylon spiritually as they make and keep gospel covenants wherever they reside.⁷ They must gather spiritually before they can gather physically as God's people.⁸

No later than the gathering at Adam-ondi-Ahman, the Father's voice will command his spiritually gathered people of the last days to physically come out⁹ of the nations of Modern Babylon and gather physically¹⁰ to the promised land¹¹ of Zion in Missouri.¹² Members of the church have anxiously waited for this call from the Lord¹³ since at least 1839,¹⁴ when the early saints were forced to leave the state¹⁵ because the Missouri governor threatened to exterminate them.¹⁶ The tribulations of that past exodus may foreshadow conditions that some modern saints will encounter when they return to Zion during the Great Tribulation.¹⁷ The Great Tribulation will last for 3½ years in the second half of Physical Armageddon.¹⁸ This timing suggests that there are good reasons why this period is called the Great Tribulation and why the saints will be commanded to come out of Babylon to the safety of Zion.¹⁹ In Revelation 18:4, God's command for his saints to come out of Babylon coincides with the call for saints to gather at Adam-ondi-Ahman. They will have 3½ years from that call to come to Zion before Modern Babylon falls physically, as described in Revelation 18:8-24.

God's call from Adam-ondi-Ahman will be similar to calls made in ages past, including Adam's call for his posterity to gather at Adam-ondi-Ahman just three years before he died.²⁰ Similarly, the saints in Christ's ancient church were warned to leave Jerusalem before its destruction in 70 AD, and to gather at Pella.²¹ Jeremiah similarly warned the Jews to flee ancient Babylon, where they had been held captive for 70 years.²² God universally calls his people to come out of Babylon both ancient and modern.²³ However, his call in Revelation 18:4 is specific to the physical gathering of his saints to Zion in Missouri after the gathering at Adam-ondi-Ahman.²⁴ God's people will physically gather to Zion to be safe from harm during the Great Tribulation.²⁵ Some missionaries may be exempt from this call to gather physically to Zion in Missouri.²⁶ The Two Witnesses, for example, will minister in Jerusalem for 3½ years during the Great Tribulation.²⁷

The Lord gave two reasons for commanding his people to come out of Modern Babylon during the Great Tribulation.²⁸ The saints were first told to come out of Babylon that ye be not partakers of her sins, and thus become guilty as Babylon is guilty.²⁹ Second, the saints were to come out that ye receive not of her plagues.³⁰ The plagues refer primarily to the seven Vial Plagues of the Third Woe described by John in Revelation chapters 16 to 19.³¹ However, this admonition also applies to the ongoing plagues associated with the First and Second Woes.³² If the saints refuse to come out of Babylon when called by God to do so, they will share Babylon's iniquities and her judgments.³³ Their punishment will be both physical death³⁴ and spiritual death.³⁵ Lot's wife is an example of someone who died physically and spiritually because she failed to come out of Babylon both in body and in spirit.³⁶ Saints that longingly look back to Modern Babylon as they journey to Zion will suffer the same fate.³⁷ Faithful saints that cannot journey to the safety of Zion for reasons beyond their control may physically die of plagues and other causes during the Great Tribulation,³⁸ but they shall be as martyrs³⁹ whose rest will be blessed.⁴⁰

The Lord's call in Revelation 18:4 is specific to the time of the Great Tribulation, but the Lord previously issued a similar call for saints to gather in Doctrine and Covenants Section 133. This call applied to the physical gathering of Latter-day Saints more generally.⁴¹ Section 133 called on Latter-day Saints to physically gather to America in the 1800's,⁴² and ultimately to the Rocky Mountains.⁴³ Many saints immigrated to the United States in response to that call.⁴⁴ However, due in part to government restrictions on immigration, the saints were encouraged to remain in their homelands starting in 1911.⁴⁵ Since the early 1970's, all members of the church have been directed to gather spiritually,⁴⁶ but to remain physically in their native countries.⁴⁷ This directive will undoubtedly continue until the Father's voice is heard at Adam-ondi-Ahman commanding his people to physically come out of Babylon and gather to Zion in Missouri.⁴⁸ This physical gathering will be an undertaking much like the exodus from Egypt in the days of Moses.⁴⁹

Revelation 18:5: For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

God explains why he calls his saints to gather to Zion at the midpoint of Armageddon and physically leave Modern Babylon, saying her sins have reached unto heaven. In other words, physical and spiritual conditions will get really bad for people who physically remain in Modern Babylon. The conditions that describe the Second Beast in Revelation 13:13-17 apply primarily to the horrors of Modern Babylon during the Great Tribulation for the last 3½ years before the Second Coming.⁵⁰

Once the sins of Modern Babylon have reached unto heaven, the Lord will be fully justified to destroy Modern Babylon and her citizens.⁵¹ They will be the most wicked generation of people to ever live on planet earth.⁵² The sins of the modern world will be even worse than those in the days of Noah.⁵³ Babylon's sins have reached unto heaven⁵⁴ like the tower of Babel itself.⁵⁵ In symbolic terms, Babylon's sins are metaphorically stacked on top of each other until they join themselves to heaven.⁵⁶ This expresses the highest possible state of sinfulness.⁵⁷ Therefore, God hath remembered her iniquities⁵⁸ because the sheer volume of Babylon's sins makes it impossible for a just God to ignore them.⁵⁹