"PT-1 The Explanation of the Harlot" (Rev. 17:7-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/22/2015 9:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  PT-1 The Explanation of the Harlot

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation17:7-14, 18

            Message of the verses:  “7 And the angel said to me, "Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. 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."  18 “The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth."”

            This may be one of the most difficult passages in this book to understand, however it does not seem like that for the angel who is explaining it to John.  We can probably put ourselves in John’s place after he sees this very mysterious vision and in our minds be wondering what did I just see?  The angel understands what John is feeling and so he asks him “Why do you wonder?”  Well I suppose that John could have told him many reasons why he was wondering, but I don’t think that he got the chance for the angel keeps going.  John MacArthur writes “There was no need for John to remain puzzled by the relation of the beast to this beautiful yet bloody woman in the vision; the angel was about to explain to him ‘the mystery of the woman’ (v. 18) ‘and of the beast that carries her (vv. 8-17).  The apostle understood that the woman represented a false religious system, and that the beast was the Antichrist, as the reference to his ‘seven heads and…ten horns’ indicates (cf. v. 3; 13:1).  What he did not understand was the connection between the two figures.  It had been revealed to John in a previous vision that the whole world would worship Antichrist (13:4, 8, 12).  That may have been what raised the question in John’s mind as to how the woman fits into the picture, particularly how it is that ‘the beast…carries her.’”  This statement is undoubtedly true, but in my opinion there were additional reasons why John was wondering, and that is because of the sheer magnitude of the very vision itself as he sees a beautiful woman and an ugly beast would make anyone wonder.

            Since I am following the outline in John MacArthur’s commentary and he goes directly to verse eighteen at this time we will go there too and try to explain what is in this verse, for there is controversy in the interpretation of this verse, and that controversy has to do with whether or not this city is a literal city of just a religious aspect of Antichrist’s empire.  I have to remind you of the little statement “When the plain sense of Scripture makes sense, seek no other sense.” I can say that I have always been taught, and believed that this is a literal city and probably it is Babylon.  “John MacArthur writes The Old Testament predictions of Babylon’s total destruction (e. g., Isa. 13:1-14; 27; Jer. 50-51) also favor identifying ‘the great city’ with Babylon on the Euphrates.  The detail description those passages give of Babylon’s destruction was only partially fulfilled when the Medes and Persians sacked the ancient city of Babylon.  As in the case with many Old Testament prophecies, those predictions had both a near and a far fulfillment.”  He then goes on to quote Henry Morris whom he has quoted before in his commentaries on Revelation, and with that quote we will end this first SD on this second main point, “The Explanation of the Harlot.”

            “Babylon, indeed, will be permanently destroyed, as recorded in the very next chapter (18:21), but this has not happened yet.  The prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah also refer to this future destruction, not merely to Babylon’s present-day condition, as is evident from the following considerations, among others:  (1) The destruction will take place in the time that the stars and sun are darkened (Isaiah 13:1, 9, 10).  (2) The city will become as desolate as Sodom and Gomorrah, burned completely, with no remains whatever (Isaiah 13:19; Jeremiah 50:40).  (3) It shall become desolate forever, with neither man nor beast entering it any more (Isaiah 13:20; Jeremiah 51:62).  (4) It will be a time of judgment not only for Babylon, but for all nations (Isaiah 13:11-13; Jeremiah 51:49).  (5) Its destruction will be followed by universal rest and peace (Isaiah 14:7, 8).  (6) Its destruction is directly associated also with the casting of Lucifer into Sheol (Isaiah 14:12-15).  (7) Babylon’s stones will never be used in future construction elsewhere, whereas the present-day ruins of Babylon have been frequently plundered and reused in later constructions (Jeremiah 51:26).”

            I better give this one last quote to finish this section:  “The site of modern Babylon is strategically located at the crossroads of Asia, Europe, and Africa and is not far from the Persian Gulf.  It is also near the world’s richest oil fields and has a virtually unlimited water supply from the Euphrates.  Those considerations led the famed historical Arnold Toynbee to proclaim that Babylon would be an ideal site for an important political and cultural center.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the opportunity of being able to study the Word of God, to see the things that John has seen in the book of Revelation through his writings and to pass on what I have learned to others, which I pray God will use for His glory.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Today is kind of a big day for me as I am going to attend the 50^th reunion of my graduating High School Class.  I pray that I will be a good witness for the Lord and perhaps there will be someone who the Lord desires me to talk to about Him.  

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Nebo (Pisgah)” (Deuteronomy 34:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Whose sin caused the defeat at Ai?”

Answer in our next SD.

8/22/2015 10:36 AM  

           

"More on The Exposure of the Harlot" (Rev. 17:4-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/21/2015 9:04 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  More on The Exposure of the Harlot

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 17:4-6

            Message of the verses:  In today’s SD I wish to cover two more of the sub-points under “The Exposure of the Harlot” which actually covers Revelation 17:1-6 and 15.

            The Apparel of the Harlot (Rev. 17:4a):  “The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls.”

            What we are looking at is how a prostitute usually dresses for her trade, as she wants men to see who she is so that they can pay for the pleasures that she will give to him, but if the woman was dressed in normal clothes then she would not stick out and would not get any business.  I think of Judah in the book of Genesis who had two sons who had married the same woman because the first son died and the second son was suppose to raise a family for his deceased brother.  He did not want to do this and so the Lord caused him to die.  Judah had one more son who was very young, too young to be married and so he told the woman that after the son grew up that they could get married.  Judah had already lost two sons and so he did not allow the third son to get married to this woman, and so she was upset about this.  The woman’s name is Tamar and the story is in Genesis 38, and it is important as this speaks of the bloodline of our Lord Jesus Christ, but the point that I want to make from this story comes from 38:14-15 which says “14  So she removed her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face.”  Prostitutes dress in certain ways so that men know who they are just as Tamar.  The story actually ends with Judah fathering a son through Tamar and all of them are in the bloodline of Jesus Christ.  Romans 8:28 in action.

            John MacArthur writes that “metaphorically the harlot Babylon will be no different.”  She will be no different than a regular prostitute.  “That she is adorned with god and precious stones and pearls portray her as a prostitute who is both attractive and has plied her trade successfully and become extremely wealthy.”

            The Abominations of the Harlot (Rev. 17:4b-5):  having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, 5  and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."”     

Prostitutes try and get what they can from the men that they do business with even trying to get them drunk so that, if possible they can steal and take things from them.  We see that this prostitute was rich as she has a gold cup and in that cup is abominations of the unclean things of her immorality.  The metaphor of a prostitute being like a false religion is very accurate as people get excited over their new found “religion” and give everything to it.  Donald Grey Barnhouse comments on this graphic description in John MacArthur commentary as he writes: 

            It is also highly significant that the abominations and filthiness should be spoken of as coming from a golden cup.  ‘Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunken; the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad’ (Jer. 51:7).  To those who are acquainted with the history of ancient religions this significance is heightened by comparisons with the rites of the pagan religious mysteries.  A French scholar, Salverte, writing on The Occult Sciences, tells of the drinking in connection with demon ceremonies.  ‘To drink of mysterious beverages,’ he says, ‘was indispensable on the part of all who sought initiation in these mysteries.  These mysterious beverages were composed of wine, honey, water, and flour, with various other ingredients used locally.  From the nature of the ingredients avowedly used, wand from the nature of other not avowed, but certainly used, there can be no doubt that they were of an intoxication nature; and till the aspirants had come under their power, till their understandings had been dimmed, and their passions excited by the medicated draught, they were not duly prepared for what they were either to hear or see.’”

We can look at a few verses in the OT to show that all idolatry is abominable to God.  “22 Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with the sins which they committed. 23 For they also built for themselves high places and sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and beneath every luxuriant tree. 24 There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel (1 Kings 14:22-24).”  Next we will look at 2 Kings 21:1-9 “1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel. 3  For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem I will put My name." 5 For he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 6 He made his son pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and used divination, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD provoking Him to anger. 7 Then he set the carved image of Asherah that he had made, in the house of which the LORD said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever. 8  "And I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them." 9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh seduced them to do evil more than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel.”  There is not a lot written about Manasseh in the OT, and most of what is written is not good, however we do see that he did become a believer in his old age as 2 Chronicles tells us. 

            In this section of Revelation we have the name of this prostitute or harlot “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth.”  That is some name for this false religious system that John takes one whole chapter in Revelation to tell us about, and how it was eventually destroyed.  Now the word Mystery should be added to this name:  John MacArthur writes “The harlot is called mystery Babylon to indicate that Babylon in this context does not refer to a geographical location.  This is not ancient Babylon, the Babylon of John’s day, or the rebuilt city of Babylon in the end times.  The details of this vision can’t be applied to any actual city.  Here is a previously undisclosed Babylon, a secret reality to be revealed in the end times.  This Babylon is the symbol of all worldly resistance to God; it is described as ‘The Great’ because of its far-reaching influence.  In fact, so great will be its influence that it is called “The Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth.  Babylon will be the source of all the false, idolatrous, blasphemous worship in the end times.  Her designation as the Mother of Harlots is appropriate, since harlotry in Scripture often symbolizes idolatry.  So Babylon, the city that spawned the system that corrupted the world with false religion, will do so again.”

Well we have one more sub-point that is not too long so I think we will tackle it too.

The Accusation of the Harlot (Rev. 17:6):  “6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly.”

            I would suppose that drinking is something that most harlots do as part of their trade, however this harlot was not drunk on wine, but on the blood of the saints and also on the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.  One of the goals of this false worship which is headed up by Satan is to make it so everyone has to take part in it the way that will cause those who are true believers not to be able to take part in it.  We have seen this kind of thing throughout the Old and New Testaments.  For instance in the book of Daniel we read of three Hebrew men who would not bow down to a statute of Nebuchadnezzar and so they were thrown into the furnace.  In the New Testament times we have seen those who would not bow to Caesar and were thrown to the lions.  This same kind of thing will happen in the Tribulation period and it will have to do with the mark that people will have to take to be a part of being able to buy and sell and to live, and those who don’t will be put to death.  I believe that this mark is a part of this false worship as it is the false prophet and the Antichrist who will cause people to take it.  When we look at this verse we can see that throughout history as I have tried to describe here in a brief way that people who stood up for the Lord were sometimes killed.  Today there are more people being killed for their faith in Jesus Christ than t any other time in the history of the world. 

            John MacArthur comments:  “While the world becomes drunk with the lust for her, the harlot becomes drunk with the blood of God’s people.  The vision was so appalling that when John saw her, he wondered greatly; expressing that he was confused, shocked, astonished, and frightened by the ghastly vision of such a contrastingly magnificent figure of the woman and such a deadly intent.”  Is it no wonder that when John had eaten the scroll with the prophecies on it and the fact that he had to see and write about these things that it caused is stomach to become sick?

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Jesus said in the 25^th chapter of Matthew as He spoke about this time on earth that for the sake of the elect that He would return to rescue them otherwise the entire world would be destroyed.  For the sake of the elect shows to me how much love that the Lord has for true believers and there are times when even the elect have a hard time not being fooled by the types of things that are going on as described in this 17^th chapter of Revelation.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Pray that God will give me the wisdom so that I will not fall prey to things that are not a part of His plan for my life.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus” (John 4:32).

Today’s Bible question:  “From which mountain did Moses view the Promised Land?”

Answer in our next SD.

8/21/2015 10:48 AM

PT-2 of The Alliances of the Harlot (Rev. 17:2-3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/20/2015 10:19 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  PT-2 of The Alliances of the Harlot

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 17:2-3

            Message of the verses:  “2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries." 3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.”

            We did not get too far into this second sub-point from the main point “The Exposure of the Harlot,” and so we want to compete this section in our Spiritual Diary for today.  It would be good to make mention that John MacArthur entitles this chapter in his commentary, which covers the entire 17^th chapter of Revelation “The Destruction of the Final World Religion.”  We will see as we study this chapter that this is exactly what will happen to this final world religious system, something else that began in the book of Genesis and will end in the book of Revelation.

            Remember when we were looking at the 16^th chapter of Revelation and in the sixth bowl judgment we saw that it was demons who caused the kings of the earth to come to the battle of Armageddon as they deceived them into coming there where we saw that they all would die there.  Well it is easy to believe that it is also demons who deceive the kings of the earth to become obsessed with the Babylonian harlot as the false prophet is also involved in this deception.  In Revelation 13:8 we read “All who dwell on the earth will worship [Antichrist], everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.”  MacArthur writes “But having joined themselves to the harlot, economically, socially, militarily, politically, and religiously, they will share her disastrous fate.” 

            When we read that the harlot will not just be allied with the rules of the earth, but also “those who dwell on the earth,” we must remember that that statement is seen in other places in the book of Revelation and it speaks of unbelievers.  Paul tells us that believers are in the heavenly places.  Ephesians 2:6 “and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”  You get the picture that if we believers are seated with Christ in the heavenly places we are not those who dwell on the earth.  John MacArthur writes on this verse from his Study Bible:  “The tense of ‘raised’ and ‘seated’ indicates that these are immediate and direct results of salvation.  Not only is the believer dead to sin and alive to righteousness through Christ’s resurrection, but he also enjoy his Lord’s exaltation and shares in His preeminent glory.”  So this, to me, is something that helps me to understand why the phrase “those who dwell on the earth” speaks of those who are not believers.

            Those who dwell on the earth “were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”  They will be caught up into this false religion as they will give their hearts and souls to what the Word of God calls the abominable “Babylonian harlot.”  This is not a drunkenness that comes from drinking alcohol, although that may be a part of it, instead “he is talking about those who are passionately intoxicated with Antichrist’s illicit false world religion. The imagery derives from Jeremiah 51:7, which says of ancient Babylon, ‘Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, intoxicating all the earth.  The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are going mad.’”

            John is now transformed once again carried away in the spirit and this time it is to the wilderness which MacArthur writes “translates eremos, which describes a deserted, desolate wasteland like the region where modern Babylon is located.  In that place John ‘saw a woman’—the Babylonian harlot whom the angel had just described (vs. 1-2).”  Now comes the kind of weird part as John sees her sitting on a scarlet beast, whose description identifies him as the Antichrist.  Let’s look at some verses we have already studied to confirm this identify as being the Antichrist.  MacArthur writes “That the woman was sitting on the scarlet beast signifies that he was supporting her.  The initial unifying and controlling factor of Antichrist’s kingdom will be religion.  With the heavens and earth being ravaged by God’s judgments, and the world’s political, economic, and military might crumbling, people will turn in desperation to the supernatural.  The beast and the woman will coexist for a while; that is, the religion will be separate from the kingdom of Antichrist at first.  But eventually ‘the beast…will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire (v. 16).  It will be at that point that the false prophet will make the whole world worship Antichrist (Rev. 13:11-14), and everything will be one in the beast’s universal and comprehensive rule.”  It seems to me that the Antichrist needs the harlot (the false religious system) to get himself firmly into power and then once he is in power my thoughts are that he will be possessed by a strong demon, (we have looked at this earlier) and it is then that he will desire to be worshiped and the harlot will no longer be any use to him.

            We see the word “scarlet” and this is the color that according to 2 Samuel 1:24 “"O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, Who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet, Who put ornaments of gold on your apparel,” speaks with luxury.  There is a lot of scarlet used in certain “religions” of the world today, perhaps a sneak preview.  Next we see that there are many “blasphemous names” on this beast, and I think this indicates the kind of things that the Antichrist will be speaking about concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.  Daniel says that he will speak out against the “Most High” in Dan. 7:25; 11:36. 

            Now we will quote once again what John MacArthur says about “having seven heads and ten horns which is “showing the extent of his alliances.  As will be seen in the discussion of verses 9 and 10 below, the ‘seven heads’ are seven mountains on which the woman sits, 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’ (vv. 9-10).  They represent seven mountains, seven past, present, and future governments.  The ‘ten horns’ represent ten kings (v. 12), who will rule as subordinates to Antichrist (v. 13).”  These help to identify the harlots alliances, but as mentioned once firmly in power the Antichrist will destroy this false religious system and demand worship.  MacArthur concludes “Far from being separated, church and state will be united as never before in human history.”

            We still have three more sub-points under this first main point “The Exposure of the Harlot,” and we will look at perhaps two of them in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  John had to eat the “little book” which was what we are studying in Revelation and it made him sick to his stomach.  I can understand this as I wade through these judgments and have the privilege of better understand what the future holds, and also having a desire to share what I am learning with others.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Be faithful in spreading the truth of God’s Word.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  I want to quote the verse that has the answer in it for our question from yesterday and then explain what I have learned about it.  By the way the answer is “Like a dove” and it comes from Luke 3:22 “and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."”  The word “like” is a simile and we have seen John use this word in Revelation many times.  When a dove lands it is softly and slowly and that is how the Holy Spirit landed upon Jesus, and one more thing and that is that the entire trinity is involved in the baptism of Jesus.

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘I have meat to eat that you know nothing of?’”

Answer in our next SD.

8/20/2015 11:29 AM

 

PT-1 Exposure of the Harlot (Rev. 17:1b, 15)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/19/2015 8:20 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-1 Exposure of the Harlot

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 17:1b, 15

            Message of the verses:  In today’s Spiritual Diary we will be looking at the first part of the first main point from the outline of John MacArthur to which he has entitled “The Exposure of the Harlot” and the first sub-point he has entitled “The Authority of the Harlot.”

            The Authority of the Harlot:  “who sits on many waters….And he said to me, ‘The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. (17:1b, 15).

            My first comment has to do with how verse fifteen describes different people groups as being “peoples and multitudes and tongues.”  The media of this country has done everything to make us believe that there are different races of people on planet earth, mostly because they will call those who are black as the black race which stirs up many problems.  Now the truth of this is that every person on planet earth is from the human race, there are no other races of beings on planet earth.  Think of the problems that could be avoided if people understood this simple truth that the Bible teaches, that we are all one race as we all descend from Adam and Eve, and we are all made in the image of God.  Now back to Revelation as it speaks of this false religious system that it calls the harlot.

            As we look at our verses this morning we can see that this harlot, which John sees in his vision, is like a king sitting on a throne beside many waters.  It is true that cities, that is major cities have been settled beside waters, like oceans, or rivers, or lakes in order to have a source of water for things like transportation, and for drinking, and other things we use water for.  Babylon was situated by the Euphrates River as Jeremiah writes in 51:13 “you who dwell by many waters,” and this is the same phrase that is applied in our passage of today.  Babylon was a proud city that sits by many waters just as this harlot of the future takes her seat by many waters.

            No the waters of our passage is not h20 but as the angel explains “The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.”  John MacArthur writes “The metaphor is an apt one, since a city situated in a commanding position on a great waterway would be highly influential.  The harlot will not merely influence, but will dominate all the unredeemed peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues of the earth (cf. the similar phrases in 5:9; 7:9; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6).  The harlot’s authority will be universal; the entire world will be committed to the false worship of the Babylonian system, rather than the true God.”

The Alliance of the Harlot (Rev. 17:2-3):  “2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries." 3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.”

            I suppose that this is one of the most mysterious sections of the book of Revelation as we see a woman sitting on a scarlet beast and the beast has blasphemous names on it along with seven heads and ten horns.  Sounds like a good script for a Hollywood movie, but it is a vision that John sees and writes about long before we had movies.

            The influence that this harlot has goes even to the kings of the earth which shows that her influence is immense indeed.  I suppose that we could say that everyone was drinking of the cool-aid, and doing it willingly.  John MacArthur writes “The phrase ‘committed acts of immorality’ translates a form of the Greek very porneuo (‘to commit sexual immorality’). It aptly describes the harlot’s interaction with the kings of the earth.  The symbolism of spiritual adultery, used in the Old Testament to describe Israel’s apostasy from Jehovah (cf. Ezek. 16, 23) is inappropriate here.  The unredeemed rulers and the nations they represent do not know God and are never pictured as His wife.”  Now this is something to think about as we look at two different things that the Bible teaches us, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament, and the first one can be seen from the study that I am doing in the book of Amos.  In the first chapters of the book of Amos God is judging different Gentile nations for how they treated Israel.  There is a difference between how God judges these nations and how He deals with Israel, and the reason is that Israel belongs to God.  Our Pastor spoke two Sunday evenings on how discipline is to be done in the Church, the way that the Bible speaks of it.  The same principle applies here and that is that God has set this discipline up for His own people in order to bring them back to Himself, similar in the way He disciplines Israel in the OT.  The 12^th chapter of Hebrews speaks of this along with other books of the NT including what our Lord has to say in Matthew 18:15-17.  What we are looking at in this passage in Revelation 17 is people being involved with a false religion, something that all the people of the earth will be involved in during parts of the Tribulation period with the exception of those who come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

            We will continue looking at this second sub-point in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that God loves me enough to cause me to grow up in the Lord even though at times He has to discipline me in order for me to grow.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Death” (Romans 6:23).

Today’s Bible question:  “In what form did the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus?” 

Answer and explanation in our next SD.

8/19/2015 8:58 AM

PT-2 Introduction to Rev. 17 (Rev. 17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/18/2015 9:35 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-2 Introduction to Rev. 17

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 17

            Message of the verses:  I think that perhaps that this 17^th chapter of Revelation is one of the most difficult chapters to understand in the book of Revelation and perhaps in the Word of God because of the symbolism that is found in it.  Another thing that makes it difficult to understand is where it is placed in the book of Revelation, along with the 18^th chapter.  We have just finished looking at the last bowl judgment in the 16^th chapter of Revelation and we read in the first verse of the 15^th chapter that when these seven bowl judgments were finished then the wrath of God would be complete and now when we look at the 17^th and 18^th chapters we see wrath still going on.  Now we had something similar when we looked at chapters 12-14 of Revelation as we went back to look at what was going on in another way, however this is a little bit different when we look at chapters 17-18.

            John MacArthur writes “Chapters 17 and 18 are inserted into the chronological flow of Revelation, which continues in chapter 19.  The pouring out of the seventh bowl (16:17) is actually followed immediately in time by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to end the great world battle (19:11).  Chapters 17 and 18 digress to look not at God’s specific judgments, but at what is being judged.  Those two chapters go back to describe the world system led by Satan, Antichrist, and the false prophet, before recording its destruction.  John had already heard harbingers of Babylon’s destruction (14:8; 16:19); now the details of that destruction will be given in these remarkable visions.”    I for one am glad that he wrote this in his commentary, for it helps me better understand where and why these two chapters fit into this remarkable book.

            In his beginning commentary on Revelation 17-18 Warren Wiersbe writes “Beginning in Revelation 17, John describes the Lamb’s step-by-step victory over ‘the beast’ and his kingdom.  In Revelation 17, the religious system is judged; in Revelation 18, the political and economic system fall victim.  Finally, the Lord Himself returns to earth; judges Satan, ‘the beast,’ and the false prophet (Rev. 19:19-20); and then establishes His kingdom.

            “One reason John used symbolism was so that his message would encourage believers in any period of church history.  The true church is a pure virgin (Rev. 19:7-8; see also 2 Cor. 11:2), but the false religious system is a ‘harlot’ who has abandoned the truth and prostituted herself for personal gain.  In every age there has been a ‘harlot’ who has persecuted God’s people; and this will culminate in the last days in worldwide apostate religious system.” 

            Chapter seventeen is about this worldwide religious system that comes together during the tribulation period.  Now remember that after the rapture of the church there will not be any true believers on earth for a short while in order to combat a false religious system like there has been since the church age began.  As we review the seven different churches that are in chapters 2-3 we can see how much affect that this false religious system had on the church and how the Lord had instructed believers to react to this system.  I have mentioned that there are some who believe that the order of these churches is actually prophetic in nature as each church mentioned will be dominant during different periods of the church age and if that is the case the dominant church at this time would be the Laodicean church, and if we are close to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ then that would not be hard to understand at all.

            In our last SD we wrote about how this false religious system began as it actually began in the 11^th chapter of Genesis in what would be called Babylon and now I want to quote some OT passages to show how this system crept into Israel, which is actually what God had to judge them for and eventually take them out of the Promised Land.

            Jeremiah writes “15 Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, 16 “As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we are not going to listen to you! 17 “But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and saw no misfortune. 18 “But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine." 19 “And," said the women, "when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?’”  (Jer. 44:15-19)

           

            Now I want to mention one thing more about this false religious system, something that I remember hearing from a long time ago and that is that Nimrod, who actually helped start this system was believed to be the Messiah and the reason was because of his mother.  This goes back to Genesis 3:15 which is the first prophecy of the coming of the Messiah:  “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.’”  What we see in this verse is a prophecy not only of the coming Messiah, but that the Messiah will be born of a woman, and we know that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary and thus she was a virgin as Isaiah foretells, but Nimrod’s mother felt that her son was the Messiah and that she was then the mother of God and this is where the mother/son cult false system of this false religion began, something that still goes on even today.  Mary was a very godly woman, but she was not God as some believe today.  Throughout history this mother/son cult has had different names to it with the last one being Mary/Jesus and I know that this may offend some who read this but the fact remains that Mary is not, and never was God.  Now since I have opened this can of worms I want to say that there is a booklet that was written many, many years ago and it has to do with Revelation 17-18 which is entitled “Two Babylon’s” “By the Late Rev. Alexander Hislop.”  You can search this booklet out that was first written in 1853 and then expanded in 1858.  In this booklet the author sites that the harlot that is found in Revelation 17 is actually the Roman Catholic Church, something that after doing some study on this subject I do not believe is entirely true.  We have mentioned that this false religious system got its roots in Babylon and that there have been different types of it that are around the world even today and throughout history and that it will come together as a whole in the Tribulation Period, so that shows me that even though some of the things about it can be found in the Roman Catholic Church that it would be unfair to say that this “harlot” is that church.  As far as being two Babylon’s there certainly are as we look at chapters 17-18 of Revelation as Dr. Wiersbe stated.   Now back to our next quote from the pen of Jeremiah as we see that God through Jeremiah pronounces judgment on those Jews because of their stubborn, defiant adherence to this Ishtar cult, which is a form of this false religion.

 

            20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and women-even to all the people who were giving him such an answer-saying, 21  "As for the smoking sacrifices that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your forefathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them and did not all this come into His mind? 22  "So the LORD was no longer able to endure it, because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations which you have committed; thus your land has become a ruin, an object of horror and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day. 23  "Because you have burned sacrifices and have sinned against the LORD and not obeyed the voice of the LORD or walked in His law, His statutes or His testimonies, therefore this calamity has befallen you, as it has this day." 24  Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, "Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt, 25  thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, as follows: ’As for you and your wives, you have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, "We will certainly perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her." Go ahead and confirm your vows, and certainly perform your vows!’ 26  "Nevertheless hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are living in the land of Egypt, ’Behold, I have sworn by My great name,’ says the LORD, ’never shall My name be invoked again by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, "As the Lord GOD lives." 27  ’Behold, I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will meet their end by the sword and by famine until they are completely gone.”  You can see from this passage what the Lord thinks of this false religious system and all of those who went to Egypt died in Egypt as the Babylonians went from Judah to Egypt to destroy it.

           

            In our study of the book of Ezekiel we looked at what he saw and it is recorded in Ezekiel 8:14 “Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.” 

           

            John MacArthur concludes his introductory comments on this 17^th chapter by writing “Throughout history, then, Babylon has been an important center of false religion.  In the end times, false religion will come back to where it started.  The devil who deceived the people of Babel, and from there launched false religion over the earth, will deceive the world once again.

            “The final world religion, depicted as a harlot, is the theme of this vision, which records the exposure of the harlot, the explanation of the harlot, and the extermination of the harlot.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The more that I understand about this false religion the more apt that I will not be caught up in any part of it.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to better understand how He wants me to worship Him in the way that He shows me from His Word.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “In a burning bush” (Exodus 3:2).

Today’s Bible question:  “The wages of sin is what?”

Answer in our next SD.  8/18/2015 10:47 AM

" Introduction to Rev. 17" (Rev. chapter 17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/17/2015 9:11 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Introduction to Rev. 17

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation chapter 17

            Message of the verses:  Perhaps as we begin to look at what we are going to find in the 17^th chapter of Revelation it may be best to look at verse five, as this verse seems to be the key verse in this chapter to tell us what the chapter is about.  “This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH (NIV).”

            I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that many of the things that began in the book of Genesis are completed in the book of Revelation, and what we find in chapter seventeen, which is the false religion of the world began in the book of Genesis, and will be completed in this chapter of the book of Revelation as God will destroy this false religion.  A few days ago I was talking to my neighbor who lives behind me and I was explaining to him that there is a difference between “religion” and Christianity and what I told him has to do with this chapter in Revelation.  Religion is trying to do something for God so that God will allow you to get to heaven.  Christianity is saying that you cannot do anything on your own to be accepted by God, and that God has done it all through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  As we go back into the book of Genesis chapter eleven we will find that the ancient “religion” of Babylon began there and all false religions came from this religion.  Chapter eleven of Genesis takes place after the flood and as the world begins to repopulate we find a group of people going to live in what is now called Babylon which is modern day Iraq.  We will have to take a look at parts of this chapter to best understand how this religion began. 

            “1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. 2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4  They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."

    “5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 The LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. 7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech." 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

            When I was a small boy going to a certain church where I grew up I remember seeing in a Sunday school booklet a picture of what is described in this passage from the book of Genesis, which is called “The Tower of Babel.”  It looked to me like a very high orange silo, but that was not an accurate picture of what these people were building.  I believe it looked more like a pyramid and on the top of it was something that charted the stars.  The structure is called a ziggurat and they became popular in the Middle East and when the city of Babylon was recently rebuilt there was one there too.  When we look at the passage in Genesis and then look at verse five of Revelation chapter 17 we see what we can call this ancient religion as it surely was the Mother of Harlots.  A harlot is what the Bible calls a person who worships idols, for God created man to worship Himself, but because of sin man does not want to worship God.  Paul writes in the first chapter of Romans that “no mans seeks after God.”  What he is saying is that it is impossible for a person who is not a true born-again believer to seek after God.  The only way that man can be saved is to have God seek after Him, which He did on the cross. 

            Satan stepped into the spiritual vacuum that man had, for man was made to worship and he led man to bring about this false religion.  Satan’s desire has always been to be worshiped, for he desires to be like god, actually be god.  Satan is the “father of lies” (John 8:44), and John MacArthur writes “and his demon hosts, disguised as angels of light (2 Cor. 11:14-15) and purveying ‘doctrines of demons’ (1 Tim. 4:1).  Playing on people’s religious bent, they energize religious deception.  False religion’s powerful appeal comes from its promise to satisfy man’s longing for the spiritual realm without bringing him under God’s authority.  In their rebellion against the true God, and because of their love of sin, fallen men willingly turn to these damning satanic religions.  But wonderfully, graciously, mercifully, though man no longer seeks God, God still seeks man.  Indeed, it was to ‘seek and to save that which was lost’ (Luke 19:10 that Jesus came into the world.”

            I have to tell a little story from a movie that is one of my favorite movies of all times “The Hunt for Red October.”  There are several lines in that movie that I remember and have meaning for me, but in one of the scenes there is a man aboard an American submarine who is tracking the Russian sub “The Red October,” and he is about to track it using sonar.  He explains that the sonar equipment was designed after a whale and when it can’t figure out what it is tracking “it goes back to mama.”  As we look at the false religion of the world Revelation says that it comes from “the mother of harlots” which is what will happen during the Tribulation period as all false religions will “go back to mama,” the false religion founded by Satan in Babel.

            One more thing about that false religion and how man was able to advance so fast, for the man who began this religion was named Nimrod and he was the great grand-son of Noah, so it did not take long for man to go back into sinfulness.  Because there was only one language in the world man could advance very rapidly and so God just confused the languages so that there were many different languages.  Can you imagine waking up one morning speaking a different language than when you went to bed and you had to begin looking around to find those who were speaking the same language as you.  Well that is what happened and if it weren’t for that confusing of the languages mankind would have advanced so fast, and when mankind advances so fast bad things happen.  I put something on one of my earlier Spiritual Diaries to show how fast the knowledge of the world doubled and it took a very long time for it to do it the first time, and then it continues to get shorter and shorter until today it is about every thirteen months as this article from “industry tap” explains.  “Knowledge Doubling Curve

Buckminster Fuller created the “Knowledge Doubling Curve”; he noticed that until 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of World War II knowledge was doubling every 25 years. Today things are not as simple as different types of knowledge have different rates of growth. For example, nanotechnology knowledge is doubling every two years and clinical knowledge every 18 months. But on average human knowledge is doubling every 13 months.  According to IBM, the build out of the “internet of things” will lead to the doubling of knowledge every 12 hours.”  The article goes on to talk about how much memory or actually data that the brain can handle and it is also very interesting.  http://www.industrytap.com/knowledge-doubling-every-12-months-soon-to-be-every-12-hours/3950

            There is more that we will look at in our next SD on this introduction of chapter seventeen in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, for that surely was me and I certainly was not seeking after God when He saved me.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Fifty.”

Today’s Bible question:  “How did God first appear to Moses?”

Answer in our next SD.

8/17/2015 10:06 AM

       

"PT-3 of the 7th Bowl Judgment" (Revelation 16:17-21)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/16/2015 6:43 AM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  PT-3 of the 7^th Bowl Judgment

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 16:17-21

            Message of the verses:  “17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is done." 18 And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.”

            Now we finished looking at the greatest earthquake that will ever happen on planet earth in our earlier SD’s on this seventh bowl judgment and for those who escape what happens during the earthquake, they will face more terror in the form of 100 pound hailstones.  Let us go back and look at a couple of places where God used hail stones in judgments, but these will be nothing like the ones seen in this passage.  “Egypt." 23 Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt. 24 So there was hail, and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very severe, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation (Ex. 9:23-24).”  “The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up (Rev. 8:7).”  We can see from the first trumpet judgment that things were worse than the first seal judgments but not as bad as what takes place in the bowl judgments.  John MacArthur writes “The Greek term translated ‘about one hundred pounds’ described the most weight a normal man could carry, anywhere from 90-135 pounds.  The heaviest hailstones ever recorded weighed about 2 points; these gigantic chunks of ice will be fifty times heavier.  They will add to the devastation caused by the earthquake and crush humanity, who, because of the earthquake’s power, have no adequate shelter.”

            Once again we see unsaved mankind blaspheming God because of the hailstones for this plague was extremely severe.  If one thinks that these signs from God convince people to come to the Lord then as we see here they would be mistaken.  “"But he said to him, ’If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead’ (Luke 16:31).”  This verse is a part of the story of Lazarus and the rich man who is pleading with Abraham to send someone to his brothers who has risen from the dead, and Abraham tells the formerly rich man that if they did not listen to the Law and the prophets they will not listen to someone who has risen from the dead.  The people who are affected by these last judgments have not listened to One who has risen from the dead or else they would not be in the predicament that they are in now.

            We will finish this SD, and this section that speaks of this final bowl judgment with a quote from John MacArthur.  “God’s eschatological and eternal wrath is inevitable; no one can prevent or hinder it from coming (Isa. 43:13).  But there is a way to escape it, because ‘there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 8:1).  Those who by faith trust in Christ alone for salvation will escape both God’s eschatological wrath (3:10) and His eternal wrath (1 Thess. 1:10).  They will not face judgment, because their sins were judged when Jesus died in their place on the cross (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 2:24).  In light of the inevitable judgment to come, the warning to all unrepentant sinners is ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts’ (Heb. 4:7).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God is what will happen to those who harden their hearts towards the Living God.  We can see what happened to Pharaoh that after a while God hardened his heart, and the same thing happened to those in our study of these last judgments that come from God.  I want others to understand the consequences of not trusting Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I mentioned that I have some goals for these Spiritual Diaries that I write each day and put as many as three blog posts a day onto the two different blogs that I write.  The first goal is for salvation as mentioned in our last SD.  The second goal comes from 2 Peter 3:18 “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”  This is the last verse that we have from Peter as shortly after he wrote this he was crucified upsides down for the cause of Christ.  The last goal is that those who are believers, those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and are growing in grace will also be revived in their hearts from the Holy Spirit, so that they will tell others of how they have been born again.  I pray that God will accomplish these three goals everyday when I look at who it is that have read these Spiritual Diaries.  To God be the Glory, Great things He has done.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Enoch” (Genesis 5:21).

Today’s Bible question:  In Jewish money, one maneh equaled how many shekels?”

Answer in our next SD.

8/16/2015 7:18 AM