SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/24/2015
11:24 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 Explanation of the Harlot
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
13:9-14
Message of the
verses: “9 “Here is the mind which
has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, 10 and
they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and
when he comes, he must remain a little while. 11 "The beast which was and is not, is
himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.
12 "The ten horns which you saw are
ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings
with the beast for one hour. 13 “These have one purpose, and they give their
power and authority to the beast. 14 "These will wage war against the
Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of
kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful."”
As we begin this third SD on this second main section of
Revelation 17 we see John trying to get our attention in verse nine by stating “Here
is the mind which has wisdom.” It seems
to me that he said something like this earlier in chapter thirteen: “Here is wisdom. Let him who has
understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a
man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six (vs. 18).” A little different but wisdom is used in both
verses. Now that he has got our
attention what is it that he wants to tell us?
We realize that what he wants to tell us will take much spiritual
insight in order to understand what he is about to write. John MacArthur writes “And perhaps only those
alive at the time will fully comprehend it.”
Ok we move on to look at the next part of verse nine
which states: “The seven heads are seven
mountains on which the woman sits.” Now
these seven heads belong to the beast, the Antichrist as we have already seen
in verse three “3 And he carried me away
in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast,
full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.” We can see that the seven heads of the beast
are seven mountains or hills as the Greek word can mean either and that this “woman”
sits on these seven hills or mountains.
Now we will speak to what many commentators say about what this
represents. Now on the 29th
of September, 2005 I wrote the following in my Spiritual Diary “I have read in
different commentaries that the seven mountains are referring to Rome, for Rome
is noted for being built on seven hills, and according to the Greek dictionary
on my Online Bible program this word for mountain could mean hill.” Hal Lindsey, in his commentary on Revelation “There’s
a New World Coming,” writes “I believe the seven mountains refer to the seven
hills of the city of Rome. Rome has been
associated with her seven hills throughout Roman literature and on coins of her
day. What’s being said here is that the
Babylonish religious system was controlling the Tome of John’s day, and indeed
was synonymous with Rome itself. Rome
was the center of pagan worship.
However, John tells us that the seven heads also represent seven
kingdoms: five have fallen, one is, and
the other is still to come. Here he is
referring to those great world empires from the time of the original Babylon of
Nimrod’s day which have been dominated by the false occultic religion of
Babylon.” He is not the only one who
believes that this false religion is associated with the Roman Catholic church,
and it is something that has made a lot of sense to me over my years of
studying the book of Revelation. John
MacArthur writes “But such an interpretation is too narrow; something more than
just Rome must be in view, because Antichrist’s empire is worldwide. Nor can the ‘woman’ be the Roman Catholic
Church, since, as noted above, verse 18 identifies her as the city of
Babylon. Also ‘when the woman sits on
the ‘many waters’ (V.1) this must be taken as metaphorical since it is
interpreted in v. 15; when the woman sits upon ‘a scarlet coloured beast’ this
again is symbolic; thus when she sits upon the ‘seven mountains’ this too must
be figurative.’ (James Allen, What the
Bible Teaches: Revelation [Kilmarnock, Scotland: John Ritchie Ltd., 1997],
424. Finally, the angel’s call for
spiritual discernment would have been pointless if the seven mountains were an
obvious geographical reference to Rome.
“All such speculation is unnecessary, because the text
plainly identifies the mountains as ‘seven kings.’” As I was reading his text today I thought
that if there was not a comma at the end of verse nine and if the words “and
they are seven kings” that it would be much easier to understand that the seven
mountains are seven kings. In the Old
Testament mountains are at times used metaphorically for instance: "Behold, I am against you, O destroying
mountain, Who destroys the whole earth," declares the LORD, "And I
will stretch out My hand against you, And roll you down from the crags, And I
will make you a burnt out mountain (Jer. 51:25).” “"Then the iron, the clay, the bronze,
the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff
from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a
trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great
mountain and filled the whole earth (Dan. 2:35).” In our verses for today in Revelation 17 they
refer to world empires, something that is explained from the quote by Hal
Lindsey. We look at what the angel tells
John that “five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come,” and we can
look back in world history at the five Gentile world empires that had already
fallen by the time that John sees this vision and we come up with Egypt,
Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece.
The one that still exists in his day is Rome and the one to come is
Antichrist’s final world empire. John
MacArthur quotes Henry Morris in his commentary on this subject.
“Though none of these empires ever actually ruled the
whole world, each was the greatest kingdom of its own time, particularly in
reference to the land an people of Israel and these kingdoms’ opposition to the
proclamation of God’s Word and the accomplishment of His purposes in the world…
“These, of course, have not been the only kingdoms that have
been at enmity with God and His purposes.
In this category could also be placed such kingdoms as Syria, Edom,
Moab, Midian, and many others, but none of these were empires of great size and
influence. On the other hand, there were
other great and powerful empires in the ancient world—China, India, and the
Incas, for example—but these had only peripheral contact with the Word of God
and the chosen people. There were only
six kingdoms that met bot criteria up to the time of Christ and the
apostles. Furthermore, all six of these
were not only legitimate heirs of political Babel, but also religious Babel as
well. Babylonia, Egypt, Assyria, Persia,
Greece, and Rome were all strongholds of the world religion of evolutionary pantheism
and idolatrous polytheism. Thus, they
appropriately are represented as six heads on the great beast that supports the
harlot.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have another thought that goes along with
what Henry Morris writes and that is that all of these kingdoms that he and
also John MacArthur mention are mentioned in the book of Daniel, not always by
name but Daniel tells who the Gentile kingdoms will be after Israel had fallen
in 586 BC, with the exception of Egypt which had actually fallen after God sent
those ten plagues on her when He allowed the children of Israel to leave. When you compare Scripture with Scripture you
can see that God has a plan for how He is going to destroy evil in this world
and put His Son on David’s throne in Jerusalem for 1000 years and then we will
experience what people have cried out for, for such a long time “World Peace.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Love the Lord with all of my heart, soul,
mind, and strength, and to live in His love today.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Synagogues.”
Today’s Bible
question: “How many times did Abraham
plead for Sodom?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/24/2015 12:16 PM
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