Sunday, December 27, 2015

Striving for comprehension

Rev 17:1  'And there came one of the seven angels  which had the seven vials…'

(Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever)…

One of the seven angels that had a vial containing a plague, this is one of those very angels that came to John.

'…and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters…'

Rev_17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

The judgment of the whore- who lives among people, multitudes, nations and tongues. A whore…

Whore-Lev_19:29  Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.

Rev_21:9  … I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.

The bride, the pure woman belong to God.  God's people make up God's Bride.  All those who are not God's, are not part of that pure woman, that bride. Those who choose NOT to be God's choose to be the opposite of a chaste bride, an adulterous whore.  The great whore is one who is GREAT in opposition to God and God's people.  And this angel who held one of the seven last plagues is showing John this great whore who lives among a multitude of people, among nations, among tongues.  

 Rev 17:2  'With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.'

The rulers of earth align with this great whore, and the inhabitants of the earth are drunk from her wine of her betrayal of truth, they are immersed in lies, drunk with her lies.

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

And then this angel carried John away in the spirit- they went into the wilderness and there John was shown a woman sitting up a scarlet beast… full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns

Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

And the explanation we are given for this by a Biblical scholar (Uriah Smith)  is….

In verse 19 of the preceding chapter, we were informed that "great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." The prophet now takes up more particularly the subject of this great Babylon; and in order to give a full presentation of it, goes back and gives us some of the facts of her past history.

 That this apostate woman, as presented in this chapter, is a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church, is generally believed by Protestants.

Between this church and the kings of the earth there has been illicit connection, and with the wine of her fornication, or her false doctrines, the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk.

Church and State. - This prophecy is more definite than others applicable to the Roman power, in that it distinguishes between church and state. We here have the woman, the
p 703 -- church, seated upon a scarlet-colored beast, the civil power, by which she is upheld, and which she controls and guides to her own ends, as a rider controls the animal upon which he is seated.

*** Beasts- as we know from the prophecy of Daniel represent various world empires, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome (Pagan and Papal).  Putting the representative of a church with a beast is truly symbolically representing religion and politics, church and state. Papal Rome through the Papacy itself has combined the two so that the Papacy is inseparable from politics.****

The vesture and decorations of this woman, as brought to view in verse 4, are in striking harmony with the application made of this symbol; for purple and scarlet are the chief colors in the robes of popes and cardinals; and among the myriads of precious stones which adorn her service, according to an eye-witness, silver is scarcely known, and gold itself looks but poorly. And from the golden cup in her hand, - symbol of purity of doctrine and profession, which should have contained only that which is unadulterated and pure, or, explaining the figure, only that which is in full accordance with truth, - there came forth only abominations, and wine of her fornication, fit symbol of her abominable doctrines and still more abominable practices.

This woman is explicitly called Babylon.

Is Rome, then, Babylon, to the exclusion of all other religious bodies? - No, from the fact that she is called the mother of harlots, as already noticed, which shows that there are other independent religious organizations that constitute the apostate daughters, and belong to the same great family.

NOW ONCE AGAIN ANOTHER VIEW---

Biblical scholar, William Grotheer--

1995 Sep -- XXVIII -- 9(95) -- EXEGESIS OF REVELATION -- THE HARLOT AND THE BEAST -- Part 5 -- In 1534, the Luther Bible, in connection with Revelation 17, showed a cut of a woman wearing the triple tiara of the popes and riding a seven-headed dragon. The obvious deduction was that this symbolic woman represented the Papacy. Uriah Smith in his Thoughts on the Revelation, adopts the same basic view. He wrote:      "This prophecy is more definite than others applicable to the Roman power, in that it distinguishes between church and state. We here have the woman, the church, seated upon a scarlet-colored beast, the civil power." (pp. 702-703, 1897 ed.)

This same basic concept from the Reformation has continued to be the traditional Adventist view of the woman and the beast of Revelation 17, with the added focus on what is termed, "the daughters of Babylon." However this designation is not found in the book of Revelation. Looking at Revelation 17 from a exegetical viewpoint, what is its message?

First it is uniquely connected with the time just preceding the Seven Last Plagues.


Of the woman who sits as a "queen," it is declared that "her plagues (shall) come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire." (Rev. 18:8; 17:16)


Further, it is one of the angels of the Seven Last Plagues who shows to John "the judgment of the great whore." (17:1)

The designation of the angel who unfolds to John these final visions of the book as "one of the angels which had the seven vials" is in itself revealing from different perspectives. (17:1; 21:9)

 First, "the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto Him to shew unto His servants ... He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John." (1:1) Twice during the final revelation by the designated angel as one who was involved in the Seven Last Plagues, John attempts "to worship" him. (19:10; 22:8-9) Each time he is told, "See that thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets that have the testimony of Jesus." (Composite of the two previous references) It was Gabriel who stated to Daniel that "there is none who holdeth with me in these things (the Scripture of truth) but Michael your prince." (Dan. 10:21) Not only does this confirm Gabriel as "His angel" but also clearly indicates that Gabriel is one of the angels involved in the pouring out of the Seven Last Plagues, if not the chief angel.

The question arises, if Gabriel shows to John, "the Lamb's wife" - "that great city, the holy Jerusalem," whose wife is she who is also designated as "that great city." and boasts herself as a "queen"? The use of the word, "holy" is in contrast to the "city" which is "full of abominations." (17:4-5) Is it unholy Jerusalem?

One must recognize that in this final section of Revelation there is set forth two cities - Babylon and the New Jerusalem; two women - the one "clothed with the sun" and the one bedecked with gold and pearls; two wives - one, the wife of the Lamb, and the other, the wife of the "scarlet colored beast."

Who is this "scarlet colored beast"? It has seven heads and ten horns as the serpent-dragon of Revelation 12. It should be observed that when the beast of Revelation 13, which also had seven heads and ten horns, is described, its bodily differences from the dragon are noted. (13:2) No such differences are given of the beast of Revelation 17, except the absence of crowns on the heads, and the color change from fiery red to scarlet. The word for scarlet (kokkinon) is used to describe the color of the robe the Roman soldiers put on Christ in mockery of Him as "King of the Jews." (Matt. 27:28) No longer are the heads crowned, the dragon is reigning.

*******

We know prophecy isn't easy to comprehend, but we do know that history within the Bible show us the truth. We have proven time and again that the Papacy is the Beast. We are going to follow this all the way through to the end of chapter 17 - tomorrow and hope to gain some comprehension.

All by the grace of God may we understand what we need to know! Please Father, we are not worthy, Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ alone is worthy. Through His love for us, keep us in Him, we cannot do this ourselves, we are helpless, we have no purity within us. We live and hope in Him because we have no hope in and of ourselves.  Please…. Help us! 

In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord now and forever!

AMEN.

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