Tag Archives: Revelation 17

Daily Bible Study

December 30, 2023 Bible Study — We Must Choose Where Our Loyalty Lies

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 17-19.

I always find this passage difficult to understand.  I am convinced that John believed when he wrote about the woman and the beast here that they referred to Rome.  John would have seen the seven hills referenced here as being the seven hills of Rome.  And perhaps the passage does indeed refer to Rome.  After all the passage says that it once was, now is not, yet will come again.  That being said, when I read John’s description of the woman he identifies as Babylon, the only place which fits his description today is the United States.  Or, perhaps, Washington, D.C. because he does write that the woman is the great city which rules over the kings of the earth.  However, if we read the woman referred to in this passage as the Untied States, we see that the merchants of the earth would mourn its fall because there would indeed be no one to buy their merchandise.  I also see the United States fulfilling what John writes about all the nations being led astray by her magic.  Reading this passage, I think Christians should be warned against allowing themselves to be seduced into thinking that we can give our loyalty to both the Kingdom of God and to the United States.  While being loyal to the Kingdom of God does not make us traitors to the United States (or whatever other nation we live in), loyalty to the United States (or whatever other nation we live in) will make us traitors to the Kingdom of God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 30, 2022 Bible Study — The Woman And The Scarlet Beast

2 Comments

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 17-19.

I struggle with putting together a blog on today’s passage.  The passage speaks of the woman who sits on a scarlet beast.  The woman is described as both a prostitute and as ruling over the kings (governments) of the earth.  The woman abuses those who follow Christ (drinks their blood).  The beast existed in the past, did not (does not?) exist for a time, then exists once again.  The heads and horns of the beast are kings (governments) who give their power to the beast.  Together the kings and the beast make war on Christ and His followers, but Christ will be victorious over them.  Despite sharing an animosity towards the Christians with her, the beast and its kings will hate the woman and seek her destruction.  The beast will succeed in destroying the woman, to the dismay of the kings who gave their support to the beast in her destruction.

I can see this prophecy reflected in the world today, although I am unsure that it is being fulfilled now.  As a side note, I believe that God intends for each generation to perceive aspects of the prophecies contained in the Book of Revelation as coming to fulfillment in the events they witness.  So, how could this prophecy apply today?  The woman would be the United States government.  The beast would be the various international organizations supported by world governments (if you look at these organizations, most of them share common goals and have overlapping governing boards).  These organizations all seem to hate the United States, yet all of the world would suffer badly if the United States was destroyed.  These organizations, and the U.S. government, are hostile to those who faithfully follow Christ.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 30, 2021 Bible Study — Babylon Has Fallen

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 17-19.

Today’s passage is intentionally obfuscated, not because the writer did not want people to understand, but because people would jump to the wrong conclusions if it was written clearly.  Of course, people did so anyway.  The first thing to understand is that the woman and the beast in today’s passage is not the same as the woman or the beasts mentioned previously.  Perhaps the most confusing part of today’s passage is that the woman and the beast represent both different aspects of the same thing and completely different things.  The beast and the woman ruled (will rule?) the world together, but the beast hates the woman and will bring about her destruction.  Yet, more important to the beast will be its animosity towards those who worship God.  I take a couple of messages out of this passage.  First, despite the harsh treatment the “woman” gives to God’s people they will still find it easy to get caught up in her sins and adulteries.  We must diligently work to avoid doing so.  Second, despite the “kings of the earth” working with together and with the beast to bring about the destruction of the “woman”, they will regret and mourn when she falls.  Finally, when the “beast” believes that it has won domination over the entire earth and all who live on it, it will face defeat at the hands of God.  The last message is one we are meant to apply to events in our lives, whether we live in the time of Christ’s return or not.  Throughout history powers have arisen which think they are preeminent and can force all people to worship them in place of God (I want to note that these powers are not necessarily aware that that is what they are attempting to do).  These powers have failed, and will fail, because nothing can usurp God'[s throne.  For example, today there are those in Big Tech who believe that if they just get their algorithms right they can manipulate people to believe what they want them to believe.  They believe they can establish control over what people think by controlling the information to which they have access, all for our best interests of course.  They are not wrong.  Their mistake is in thinking that they can control enough of the information to which people have access in order to maintain their control.  God has created the world in such a way that, while they may have success in the short term, ultimately they will fail.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 30, 2020 Bible Study The Rulers Of This World Hate That Over Which They Rule

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 17-19.

I find this portion of John’s vision this morning interesting.  So, as I understand the explanation, the woman who sat on the great beast with seven heads and ten horns is the country or city which rules over the world.  Additionally, the seven heads and ten horns of the beast represent kings who ruled her.  Nevertheless, those kings hated the woman and worked together to destroy her.  Let that sink in.  Those who rule over the most mighty nation of the world when John’s vision takes place hate that nation and work to take all of its wealth, destroying that nation.  Then a little further on we discover that those rulers, and their followers, stand against the One who is Faithful and True: they stand against all that is faithful and true.

Daily Bible Study

December 30, 2019 Bible Study — Just Because Someone Hates Another Who Does Evil Does Not Mean That They Hate Evil

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 17-19.

Every time I read this I find it confusing.  We have the woman who is a prostitute and rules over many waters.  And we have a scarlet beast that has seven heads and ten horns.  The seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills where the woman rules.  Yet, later in the passage we learn that the beast hates the woman and will bring about her downfall.  However, as I read the passage today I saw how today’s politics would fit into this scenario (although there are elements which I cannot match up).  I am going to loosely apply that because I think it helps us understand how we should relate to the world.

As I see the current world, the United States fills the role of “Babylon”, the prostitute, while the role of the Scarlet Beast is filled by the political elites of this world.  The political elites hate the U.S. and would destroy it if they could.  The important thing to remember about this vision, and this interpretation of it, is that both the Prostitute and the Beast oppose God.  The Prostitute has committed adultery with the kings of the world and the people of the world have become drunk on her immorality.  On the other hand, we see that the people whose names have not been written in the Book of Life will be amazed by the Beast.  A group which opposes one evil may support and promote another evil which is just as evil as that first evil.  We must not make the mistake of forgetting that fact and turn a blind eye to the evil that some do, even when they join us in opposing a different evil.

Daily Bible Study

December 30, 2018 Bible Study — The Fall of Babylon

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 17-19.

Next in John’s vision is a woman sitting on the seven headed beast.  He writes that the seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills from which the woman rules.  John, and his first readers, would have understood this to mean that the woman was the city of Rome.  Perhaps Rome will once more rise to world dominance, or perhaps this will prove to be figurative.  Or, perhaps this was fulfilled with the fall of Rome many centuries ago.   

 

John writes that in addition to representing the hills from which the woman rules, the heads represent those who rule over that city, as do the ten horns.  What struck me today is that he then tells us that these rulers hate the woman.  Those who rule over “Babylon” will be the ones who bring about her destruction.  This has been true of many great nations throughout history.  A careful study of the fall of Rome reveals that Rome fell more because of the actions of her rulers than because of external actors. 

John writes that he heard a voice telling God’s people to come away from this great city and to not take part in her sins.  I am convinced that this admonition is directed at those of us living today.  We must be careful not to take part in the sins of the nations in which we live.  Time and again throughout history great nations have built their wealth by oppressing others.  If we live in such a nation (and if you are reading this, to one degree or another, you do), we must strive so that we do not acquire wealth through the oppression of others.  And we must strive to use whatever wealth we do acquire to help those who are suffering.

Daily Bible Study

December 30, 2017 Bible Study — The Fall of Empire

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 17-19.

    The beast upon which the woman sits in this passage is the same beast which John saw coming out of the sea in chapter 13. However, this is a separate understanding of that “beast’s” role in the end times from what we looked at yesterday. I am unsure if this portion of John’s vision is a different interpretation of the events we read about yesterday, or if this represents different events involving the same powers. I suspect that it is some hybrid of those two, because at the end of today’s passage there is a reference to those who had accepted the mark of the beast.

    One of the things which make understanding this passage is that the beast and the woman riding the beast are sort of the same thing. In order to explain this, I will work from what appears to have been John’s understanding of their meaning (which, despite the fact that he was the one to whom God gave this vision and wrote it down, I believe was only partially correct). John appears to view the woman as Rome, the seat of the Roman Empire, and the beast as the government of Rome. As with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, to some degree what John is describing in this vision happens again and again throughout history. As I see this, John is saying that those who ruled over Rome hated Rome and destroyed it for their own gain. This fits with the various things I have read about how Rome fell. And it is consistent with what I have seen of other great nations throughout history. At the peak of the Empire’s power those who rule over it stop seeing it as a great nation which they serve and begin to see it as a means to satisfy their own desires. Inevitably, once that starts it is just a matter of time until the nation, which for all intents and purposes rules the world, falls, throwing the world into chaos.

    With the fall of the great nation those who never worshiped it but instead remained faithful to God see new opportunities to preach the Gospel and thus they praise God. Rather than seeing the chaos as a reason to mourn, they see it as an opportunity to praise God and call others to repentance. Those who worship the powers of this world will unite to turn on them, but their attacks on God’s people are thwarted and they are destroyed and a new nation rises to power out of those who worship God. Unfortunately, throughout history such nations quickly become controlled by those who worship the nation rather than God, those who did not learn the lesson of the last fall. However, the day is coming when Christ Himself will take charge over the Earth and the cycle of history will come to an end.

Daily Bible Study

December 26, 2015 Bible Study

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

DSCN7493

Proverbs 30:32

    It is foolish to tell others how great you are, or to plot evil. But it is never too late to change your ways.

DSCN7492

Psalm 145

    Each generation must tell the next of God’s great acts. In some ways, this is one of the toughest things for me, telling others about the miracles God has performed for me. I have known too many people whose stories made them sound gullible rather than revealing God’s power. While I know that my fear of sounding gullible is a weakness in my walk, I, also, know that God has given me the gift of reaching those who need a more intellectual approach to God. Nevertheless, I do meditate on the splendors of God and on His many miracles. I will remind those in trouble that God is close to all who call on Him.

DSCN7491

Revelation 17

    I was reading this and realized there is an interesting statement made here about the beast. I had always known that the beast had suffered a fatal wound, yet lived. What I never really noticed was the angel telling John that the beast was once alive, but was not now alive. Yet it would live once again. The reason I find this interesting is that I am convinced that both the woman in this passage and the beast represent political entities. The woman represents the most powerful nation on the earth, particularly one which is economically mighty. If this passage were to come to fulfillment today, the woman would represent the United States.
    The beast is more difficult for me to understand. It seems to both serve the woman and to overthrow the woman. I think one thing which helps us understand the meaning of the beast is to look at what appears to be John’s understanding of this vision. I believe that John, the writer of this passage, thought that the woman was Rome and that the beast the government of the Roman Empire (although he would not have exactly meant what we think of as the government. He would have meant the behind the scenes power brokers, who had no official power, but nonetheless influenced what decisions were made and the people who were individually powerless but who, if they rejected the authority of the government as a group could have brought about its overthrow).

DSCN7490

Zechariah 9

    Every time I read this passage I am reminded that Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem was exactly that. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey He was declaring that the victory had been won. That ride symbolized a king riding into His capital after victoriously winning a war. The war was over and the enemy was defeated.
    However, there is also a prophecy here which I believe will be fulfilled. Zechariah prophesies that the lands of Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Territories will be overrun by enemies. As a result the people of these lands will join with the people of Israel. The day will come when Jerusalem will no longer be under threat of attack.