SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/18/2015
9:35 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2
Introduction to Rev. 17
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
17
Message of the
verses: I think that perhaps that
this 17th chapter of Revelation is one of the most difficult
chapters to understand in the book of Revelation and perhaps in the Word of God
because of the symbolism that is found in it.
Another thing that makes it difficult to understand is where it is
placed in the book of Revelation, along with the 18th chapter. We have just finished looking at the last
bowl judgment in the 16th chapter of Revelation and we read in the
first verse of the 15th chapter that when these seven bowl judgments
were finished then the wrath of God would be complete and now when we look at
the 17th and 18th chapters we see wrath still going
on. Now we had something similar when we
looked at chapters 12-14 of Revelation as we went back to look at what was
going on in another way, however this is a little bit different when we look at
chapters 17-18.
John MacArthur writes “Chapters 17 and 18 are inserted
into the chronological flow of Revelation, which continues in chapter 19. The pouring out of the seventh bowl (16:17)
is actually followed immediately in time by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ
to end the great world battle (19:11).
Chapters 17 and 18 digress to look not at God’s specific judgments, but
at what is being judged. Those two
chapters go back to describe the world system led by Satan, Antichrist, and the
false prophet, before recording its destruction. John had already heard harbingers of Babylon’s
destruction (14:8; 16:19); now the details of that destruction will be given in
these remarkable visions.” I for one
am glad that he wrote this in his commentary, for it helps me better understand
where and why these two chapters fit into this remarkable book.
In his beginning commentary on Revelation 17-18 Warren
Wiersbe writes “Beginning in Revelation 17, John describes the Lamb’s
step-by-step victory over ‘the beast’ and his kingdom. In Revelation 17, the religious system is
judged; in Revelation 18, the political and economic system fall victim. Finally, the Lord Himself returns to earth;
judges Satan, ‘the beast,’ and the false prophet (Rev. 19:19-20); and then
establishes His kingdom.
“One reason John used symbolism was so that his message
would encourage believers in any period of church history. The true church is a pure virgin (Rev.
19:7-8; see also 2 Cor. 11:2), but the false religious system is a ‘harlot’ who
has abandoned the truth and prostituted herself for personal gain. In every age there has been a ‘harlot’ who
has persecuted God’s people; and this will culminate in the last days in worldwide
apostate religious system.”
Chapter seventeen is about this worldwide religious
system that comes together during the tribulation period. Now remember that after the rapture of the
church there will not be any true believers on earth for a short while in order
to combat a false religious system like there has been since the church age
began. As we review the seven different
churches that are in chapters 2-3 we can see how much affect that this false
religious system had on the church and how the Lord had instructed believers to
react to this system. I have mentioned
that there are some who believe that the order of these churches is actually
prophetic in nature as each church mentioned will be dominant during different
periods of the church age and if that is the case the dominant church at this
time would be the Laodicean church, and if we are close to the return of the
Lord Jesus Christ then that would not be hard to understand at all.
In our last SD we wrote about how this false
religious system began as it actually began in the 11th chapter of
Genesis in what would be called Babylon and now I want to quote some OT
passages to show how this system crept into Israel, which is actually what God
had to judge them for and eventually take them out of the Promised Land.
Jeremiah writes “15 Then
all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other
gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly,
including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt,
responded to Jeremiah, saying, 16 “As for the message that you have spoken to
us in the name of the LORD, we
are not going to listen to you! 17 “But rather we will certainly carry
out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the
queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves,
our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in
the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and
saw no misfortune. 18 “But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of
heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and
have met our end by the sword and by famine." 19 “And," said the
women, "when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and were pouring out drink
offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial
cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?’” (Jer. 44:15-19)
Now I want to mention one
thing more about this false religious system, something that I remember hearing
from a long time ago and that is that Nimrod, who actually helped start this
system was believed to be the Messiah and the reason was because of his
mother. This goes back to Genesis 3:15
which is the first prophecy of the coming of the Messiah: “And I will put enmity Between you and the
woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And
you shall bruise him on the heel.’” What
we see in this verse is a prophecy not only of the coming Messiah, but that the
Messiah will be born of a woman, and we know that Jesus was conceived by the
Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary and thus she was a virgin as Isaiah foretells,
but Nimrod’s mother felt that her son was the Messiah and that she was then the
mother of God and this is where the mother/son cult false system of this false
religion began, something that still goes on even today. Mary was a very godly woman, but she was not
God as some believe today. Throughout
history this mother/son cult has had different names to it with the last one
being Mary/Jesus and I know that this may offend some who read this but the
fact remains that Mary is not, and never was God. Now since I have opened this can of worms I
want to say that there is a booklet that was written many, many years ago and
it has to do with Revelation 17-18 which is entitled “Two Babylon’s” “By the Late Rev. Alexander Hislop.” You can search this booklet out that was
first written in 1853 and then expanded in 1858. In this booklet the author sites that the
harlot that is found in Revelation 17 is actually the Roman Catholic Church,
something that after doing some study on this subject I do not believe is
entirely true. We have mentioned that this
false religious system got its roots in Babylon and that there have been
different types of it that are around the world even today and throughout
history and that it will come together as a whole in the Tribulation Period, so
that shows me that even though some of the things about it can be found in the
Roman Catholic Church that it would be unfair to say that this “harlot” is that
church. As far as being two Babylon’s
there certainly are as we look at chapters 17-18 of Revelation as Dr. Wiersbe
stated. Now back to our next quote from
the pen of Jeremiah as we see that God through Jeremiah pronounces judgment on
those Jews because of their stubborn, defiant adherence to this Ishtar cult,
which is a form of this false religion.
20 Then Jeremiah said to
all the people, to the men and women-even to all the people who were giving him
such an answer-saying, 21 "As for
the smoking sacrifices that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets
of Jerusalem, you and your forefathers, your kings and your princes, and the
people of the land, did not the LORD remember them and did not all this come
into His mind? 22 "So the LORD was
no longer able to endure it, because of the evil of your deeds, because of the
abominations which you have committed; thus your land has become a ruin, an
object of horror and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day. 23 "Because you have burned sacrifices and
have sinned against the LORD and not obeyed the voice of the LORD or walked in
His law, His statutes or His testimonies, therefore this calamity has befallen you, as it has this
day." 24 Then Jeremiah said to all
the people, including all
the women, "Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt,
25 thus says the LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel, as follows: ’As for you and your wives, you have spoken with your
mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, "We will certainly
perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to
her." Go ahead and confirm your vows, and certainly perform your
vows!’ 26 "Nevertheless hear the
word of the LORD, all Judah who are living in the land of Egypt, ’Behold, I have sworn by My
great name,’ says the LORD, ’never shall My name be invoked again by the mouth
of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, "As the Lord GOD
lives." 27 ’Behold, I am
watching over them for harm and not for good, and all the men of Judah who are
in the land of Egypt will meet their end by the sword and by famine until they
are completely gone.” You can see from
this passage what the Lord thinks of this false religious system and all of
those who went to Egypt died in Egypt as the Babylonians went from Judah to
Egypt to destroy it.
In our study of the book
of Ezekiel we looked at what he saw and it is recorded in Ezekiel 8:14 “Then He
brought me to the entrance of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the
north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.”
John MacArthur concludes
his introductory comments on this 17th chapter by writing “Throughout
history, then, Babylon has been an important center of false religion. In the end times, false religion will come
back to where it started. The devil who
deceived the people of Babel, and from there launched false religion over the
earth, will deceive the world once again.
“The final world
religion, depicted as a harlot, is the theme of this vision, which records the
exposure of the harlot, the explanation of the harlot, and the extermination of
the harlot.”
Spiritual meaning for
my life today: The more that I understand
about this false religion the more apt that I will not be caught up in any part
of it.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to better understand how He
wants me to worship Him in the way that He shows me from His Word.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:
“In a burning bush” (Exodus 3:2).
Today’s Bible question: “The wages
of sin is what?”
Answer in our next SD. 8/18/2015
10:47 AM
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