May 11, 2023
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Revelation? Here’s today’s reading:
Revelation 17 (NIV)
Babylon, the Prostitute on the Beast
1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”..........Continue Reading
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All I see is ugliness in Rev. 17. Who, where, when the woman questions swirl in my imagination…a king? a world government? a place or city now?
Perplexing, this evil “woman” belongs to Satan, the kings and nations all take advantage of her treasures, yet, the kings of Satan turn on her and attack? Very bizarre, twisted.
MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT , THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH is the name written on her head. She was drunk with the blood of the saints. She will also rule over all the kings. The ten kings will give their power to the beast and they shall make war on the Lamb. He will overcome them. All these events will happen as God said. Babylon is the great city. In Isaiah 13 ; 19-22 [ And Babylon , the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees excellency, shall be as when God over threw Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there etc. ] There is a list of the creatures that live there. Today in modern Iraq no one is living there in the actual city. People live outside it. But the same listed creatures are living there. Although there has been a rebuilding of the walls over time. Babylon the city was completely destroyed back in history. So how does this fit in with Isaiah 13? It said that for all generations no one will dwell there. In Revelation we know that these events are all future. We also know that the ten kings and the beast attack and destroy her. So it must be a real city. The ten kings in modern times is believed by many to be ten nations from Europe. The number does change but they have the euro to help give them one money system, and therefore can have unity at least with that.
Revelation 17
Revelation 17
Money and power throughout human history have usually led to greed, avarice, excesses of pleasure and all kinds of perversions of the ways God has established. I see this woman as a culmination of all of this, also represented as a city…Babylon..the Las Vegas of the ancient world….sin city. As much as the rule of the beast will be to worship him and persecute believers, it will also be about promotion of the sins of the flesh. We certainly see it in our world today, yes? Well it will only get worse as the influence of evil grows and becomes the bigger part of the fabric of how the world works. The evil supports the people in power and the people in power support the evil….and that to me is the connection between the woman and the beast. They will naturally war against the one who opposes their evil which is Jesus himself who has another and better way. A way though that this lasciviousness hates.
I too am confused by the end of the chapter where the people of power destroy the promoter of sin. But verse 17 sheds some light that God is the one orchestrating her destruction through the very ones who joined her in her sin. We do see this in the world at times when partners in crime turn on each other. God can certainly do anything He wants to raise up kings and influencers and then tear them down…and use various means to do it.
This woman and this beast is just an ugly picture of our own sinful ways. The world is an evil and ugly place but it is always reassuring to know God is in control even when the world feels out of control!
One can’t help but try to figure out who are the seven kings, and who are the ten kings?
I suspect that is intentional. Once people are living in it, it will be obvious I suppose. One thing I do know, like all of the fulfilled prophesies in Daniel 11, the fulfillment will be accurate. It won’t be “oh, well, this guy could be the Anti-Christ”, it will be clear.
“These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”