SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/27/2015
9:14 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Extermination of the Harlot
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
17:16-17
Message of the
verses: “16 “And the ten horns which
you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate
and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. 17 "For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose
by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the
words of God will be fulfilled.”
On October 7, 2005 I wrote the following on Revelation
17:16-18, and although we have already covered verse 18 in an earlier SD I will
include what I wrote on that verse from this SD in October of 2005. “I believe that verse 16 is saying that the
Antichrist and those ten rulers under him have ridden this religious beast into
power and now that they are in power they no longer need this religious system
and so it is time to get rid of it, and this will be the beginning of the
worship of the Antichrist, which will take place in the last half of the
tribulation period. In verse 17 I can
see something that is woven throughout the entire Word of God and that is that
God is over all and in control of all, and His plan for this world and the
people in it will take place. It is
God’s plan that this Antichrist will be in control of all the earth for this
short time in order to work out His plan.
God’s ways are at many times very hard to understand, but He never makes
any mistakes, ever. Verse 18 identifies
this woman or harlot and John says that this woman is the city which reigns
over the kings of the earth. At the time
John wrote this it was Rome, but it is possible that John is writing about
Babylon, because it was there that all of this false religious stuff began, and
although it is still centered in Rome he could well have been writing about
Babylon.”
As we look at verse sixteen and the phrase “will make her
desolate and naked” we can see that this religious system was very wealthy, for
people were giving money to this “harlot” for probably three and a half years
and this would make her very rich, but now Antichrist will cause her to become “naked”
shows that he will steal from her the wealth that she has to make her desolate
and naked. You only have to look at some
of the false religious systems that are in place today and see that they have a
great deal of wealth, for example just travel to Utah and see how much control
the Mormons have there and how rich their false system of worship has to get an
example of what we will see during this time of the Tribulation period. John MacArthur writes on this section: “That graphic language of extreme violence is
used to make clear that Antichrist and his henchmen will utterly and completely
obliterate all vestiges of the false religious system.”
He goes on to write:
“Antichrist’s self-serving, satanically inspired actions are, however,
precisely in the scope of God’s sovereign plan.
In fact, it is God who will ‘put it in’ the ‘hearts’ of Antichrist’s followers
‘to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom
to the beast.’ God’s power is behind the
destruction and consolidation of the evil empire; as always, Satan is the
instrument of God’s purposes. The
one-world unification government so long sought by the humanists will have
finally arrived, only to be destroyed in one great act of divine judgment. All ‘the words of God’—every prophecy of
Christ’s return and the setting up of His kingdom—‘will be fulfilled’
completely.”
As I was writing this I could not help but think of an OT
prophet Habakkuk and how he was complaining to the Lord about the sinfulness of
God’s people Israel and God told him that he was going to use the Babylonians
to discipline His people to which Habakkuk had a great deal of problems
with. However in the end of his writing
Habakkuk understood what and why the Lord was going to do what He says that He
would do and writes “17 Though the fig
tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of
the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should
be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my
salvation. 19 The Lord GOD is my
strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my
high places.”
Now as we look at what we have seen in Revelation 17 we
have to believe that all of what happened was in the plan of God. When you go back to the book of Genesis and
chapter three shows how sin entered mankind through Adam and Eve’s rebellion
against God, and then after the flood we see the first false religious system
at what would be known as Babylon and now in chapter 17 we see that it is in
the purpose of God to completely destroy this system we can say with Habakkuk
that no matter what happens we know that God is in charge, for He is God and He
cannot do wrong.
John MacArthur concludes:
“God hates every form of false religion and wil not tolerate those who
seek to rob Him of His glory (Isa. 42:8).
Antichrist’s religious empire will be judged and destroyed. So also, as chapter 18 of Revelation reveals,
will be the political and economic aspects of that evil world empire.” We look forward to begin looking at that
chapter in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have once again
been reminded that God has a plan and that nothing will stop His plan from
going forth, not even Satan and his henchman the Antichrist, in fact they will
be used by God to complete His plan.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love and to trust the Lord.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “I you have love for one
another” (John 13:35).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ?’”
Answer in our next SD.
8/27/2015 9:53 AM
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