Mystery Babylon (Rev. 17:5-6)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 09/26/2005

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Mystery Babylon

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelations 17:5-6

 

            Message of the verse:  “5 This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.  6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.”  (NIV) 

            I can say for sure that there is much more in verse five than I will be able to write about, for there has been at least one book “Two Babylons” written on this subject, as the author in that book talked about the Babylon where all of the false religions came out of, which is what this verse is about, and also the Babylon of government that will someday rule the world for a short time.

            Way back in Genesis 10 and 11 is where this false religion had its roots, and although the names of the gods have been changed the system is still in place.  One of the things that has always been involved in this false religion is the mother son cult, which came out of Genes 3:15 where God first promised to send a Savior who would be born from the seed of the woman, and that is the only time that phrase is used in the Scriptures, for all other times it is the seed of the man.  Way back in Genesis 3 right after man first sinned, God said He would deal with the sin issue through the One born of a virgin, Jesus Christ.  I believe one of the points that can be taken out of verse five is that all of the false religions have their roots in Babylon and that is why the word “prostitutes” is used here.

            Verse six explains that this false religious system is responsible for the persecution of believers that has been going on for thousands of years, but in particular those of this seven year tribulation period.  John ends verse six by saying he was astonished after he saw her.  (The word means great wonder)

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I would like to write about the wonderful grace of God, and also about His abundant mercy, for without those, and also He great love, I too would be following one of these false religions that had their roots in Babylon.  My salvation in Jesus Christ was from the Divine plan of God and therefore I really had little or in fact nothing to do with it, and for this I am thankful for if I would have had anything to do with it I surely would have messed it up. 

 

The Word of God gave me reason to rejoice at His mercy, love, and grace for me, and sadness for those who follow the system originated in Babylon. 

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to ask the Lord what it is that He is teaching me through this trial or trials I am in, and learn to trust Him with all that I am and have.

 

 

 

 

Memory verses for the week:              Psalm 27:1-5

 

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; in whom shall I be afraid?

 

When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh;

My adversaries and foes, it is they who will stumble and fall.

 

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;

Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

 

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after;

That I will dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.

 

And He will hide me in His shelter in the day of trouble;

He will conceal me under the cover of His tent;

He will lift me high upon a rock.

 

The Description of the Harlot (Rev. 17:3-4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 09/23/2005

 

My Worship Time                                                Focus:  The description of the woman

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Revelation 17:3-4

 

            Message of the verse:  “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.  4  The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.”  (NIV)

            John begins to describe what he sees as the angel carried him away in the Spirit into a desert where he sees a woman.  This woman is described as a harlot and she represents the pagan religious system that began in Babylon with Nimrod that is recorded in Genesis 10 and 11.  The woman is sitting on a beast and the beast had seven heads and ten horns.  The beast is the antichrist and he will make it a practice to blaspheme God as seen in the description of him here.  This woman, or religious system, will ride into power on the back of the beast, but as seen later on the beast will no longer need this religious system and make one of his own.  The dress of this woman and the beast represent someone who is both rich and powerful, and in the woman’s case the dress of a prostitute, for she will take many peoples hearts from the worship of the One true God.  The last part of verse 4 speaks of the abominations she does.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The things in these two verses, because of God’s grace, are not a big problem for me, as God has been kind and gracious to me showing me the truth of worshiping Him through His Son Jesus Christ.  However I have, as most men in the world today who are believers are more tempted by lustful things, which in some cases in pagan worship have their place.  God has been very gracious and forgiving through all of these temptations and also has strengthened me to overcome them on many occasions.

 

The Word of God has challenged my heart as I studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  I must continue to trust the Lord through out all of these trials that He is leading me through, trust Him that they will accomplish what He desires to through these trials.  I want to trust the Lord to write the script for my life that will bring honor and glory to Him.

 

Memory verses for the  week:             Psalm 27:1-4

 

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

 

When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh;

My adversaries and foes, it is they who will stumble and fall.

 

Though an army encamp me, my heart shall not fear;

Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

 

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after;

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life;

To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.   

The Harlot (Rev. 17:1-2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 09/22/2005

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The “Harlot”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 17:1-2

 

            Message of the verse:  “1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.’”

            I want to begin writing about this chapter by saying that as of the end of the sixteenth chapter God’s wrath is complete as far as sending judgments upon the earth. 

            As I read through some of the commentaries on Revelation, especially Dr. Wiersbe’s, I begin to see this book in a somewhat different light, which I should have seen before.  There seems to be different systems which God is judging in this book, for instance in chapter seventeen He is judging the system of false religion which is called a harlot as compared to the chase virgin that describes the bride of Christ, the Church, however there has always been these false “religions” upon the earth especially in the Church age, so that makes this book relevant for the entire Church age.  There have always been governments that have persecuted believers and men in power who act like antichrist, for in John’s first letter he spoke of Antichrist and antichrists who are here now.  The book of Revelation’s judgments are a culmination of these false systems that God will judge in the future once and for all and then usher in a perfect system with Jesus Christ’s reign for 1000 years.

            In verse one of chapter seventeen John is spoken to by one of the angels who had one of the vial judgments and told to come and see the judgment of this “harlot” who sits on many waters and who the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with and also the earth dwellers have been drunk with the wine of her immorality.

            John is beginning to describe this false religious system which has been among the people, (sits on many waters) since the Church age began.  Jesus gave a parable of the wheat and the tears which spoke about this false religious system.  The Greek word for tare is darnel and this word means that these false wheat plants look just like the real wheat plants and so it is hard to identify the true wheat, just as at times it is hard to identify the false religious systems on the world.  The servant in the parable asked his master if he wanted him to pull up these darnel, but was told that if he did this that he might pull up some of the real plants too, and then his master told him to wait until the maturity of the plants so they would be able to tell for sure which was darnel because there would be no fruit for it and then they could burn it in the fire.  I think that this chapter could be the fulfillment of that parable. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am very thankful that the Lord has opened up my eyes to some of these hidden truths in the book of Revelation.  Hebrews 4:12 comes to mind here:  “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” 

The Word of God was challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to give me the words He would want me to speak this Saturday morning and also this Sunday morning, and to trust Him to give me the strength to do it without the problem with my bowels. 

 

Memory verses for the week:              Psalm 27:1-2

 

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  

 

When evildoers assail me to eat my flesh;

my adversaries and foes, it is they who will stumble and fall

 

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

 

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after;

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life;

To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His Temple.

PT-2 "It is Done" (Rev. 16:19-21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 09/21/2005

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  The rest of the last vial judgment

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 16:19-21

 

            Message of the verse:  “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.”

            As stated in the last SD it is sometimes difficult to determine the time table of how all of this fits together, but looking at the end of verse nineteen and then looking forward to chapters seventeen and eighteen this to me, is a preview to what will be written about there when John will give more detail to the destruction of Babylon, both the government side of it and also the religious side.  Back to  verse nineteen where the first part of it is describing the city of Jerusalem and what these earthquakes will do to it.  The city is split into three parts and from earlier studies of Revelation I have learned that this could be the time when all Israel will be saved for this earthquake could be what the Lord uses to separate the believing Jews from the non believing Jews. 

            I am not sure if John is using hyperbole in verse twenty-one when he writes that every island fled and the mountains were not found, because this was the same type of statement that was made in an earlier judgment and the commentary on that verse that I read said John was using hyperbole, at any rate this will surely be a big mess on earth during this last judgment.  In verse twenty one Joh writes of giant hailstones falling on people and even throughout all of this awful judgment people will still blaspheme God and not turn to Him for forgiveness. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  These verses make me think about what Paul wrote to the Galatians when he said, “God is not mocked, for what so ever a man sows that is what he will reap.”  These earth-dwellers were surely not sowing righteous acts, in fact they were sowing unrighteous acts and not were reaping the fruit of them.  God does not always pay His bills at the end of the week, for He is gracious and kind, waiting for men to repent, but God always pay His bills, and I need to remember this for sure as I live out my life in His service here on planet earth.

 

The Word of God has been challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord through the trials and stress that I am going through, for His Word has promised that He is in complete control and will work out things for my good and for His glory even if it is not the script that I would have chosen for Him to follow.  

 

 

 

Memory verses for the week:  Psalm 27:1-4

 

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

 

When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who will stumble and fall.

 

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;

Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

 

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I see after:

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,

To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.

 

 

PT-1 "It is Done" (Rev. 16:17-18)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 09/19/2005

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  It is done.

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Revelations 16:17-18

 

            Message of the verse:  “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.”

            Dr. Wiersbe points out in his book on Revelations that it is possible that this last judgment, because it is poured out into the air is a judgment against Satan, for after all Satan is the prince of the power of the air.  (Eph. 2:2)  It is possible and probably correct to say that this judgment will happen at the end of the tribulation period and even though there are a number of chapters left in this book as it is clear that it is not written in complete chronological order.  Satan’s empire is not only judged in this chapter of the book, but also in the next three chapters too.  In chapter seventeen Satan’s religious system will be judged, and his political system will be judged in chapter eighteen, and his military system will be judged in chapter nineteen.

            I want to look at the first two verses of this last vial judgment today and then do the next two three next time.  As the last angel poured out his vial into the air there comes a voice from the throne saying that “it is done.”  This is the last of the judgments that began way back in chapter six and was actually talked about in chapter five when John was looking for someone to open up all of these judgments and found the only One who could possibility do this and that was The Lord Jesus Christ.  Before these last judgments began it was said that with the completion of these judgments that the wrath of God would be complete and that is probably why the voice from the throne cried out “It is done.”  Verse eighteen speaks of the first part of this judgment and that is an earthquake that is so mighty that none like it has ever been seen upon the earth since man come to be upon the earth.  There have been other earthquakes in these judgments, but none like this one in power and strength.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In looking back at all of these judgments and why they have taken place and also how man fits into all of this I would like to quote a passage from Dr. Wiersbe’s book, “Be Victorious” which answers a question that I have been pondering for a while:  “Men think they are free to do as they please, but in reality, they are accomplishing the plans and purposes of God.”  He goes on to answer another question that many people who have studied this book have asked and that is why this book should be studied if it only has to do with the future and no one can truly understand it anyway:  “Every generation of Christians has been able to identify with the events in Revelation 14-16.  There has always been a ‘beast’ to oppress God’s people and a false prophet to try to lead them astray.  We have always been on the verge of an ‘Armageddon’ as the nations wage war.”   

 

The Word of God has challenged my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Before I got out of bed this morning I began to think of all of the things that I am involved with this week, things like working on the missionary statement, working on the devotion for Saturdays Men’s Prayer Breakfast, and also the new responsibility of getting people together to pray for our churches new missionary project.  The Lord has begun to work in my heart to do these things that; after all, He is leading me to do for the cause of Christ.  I am thankful for His leading and want to continue to trust Him to lead me in every aspect of my life. 

 

Memory verses for the week:    Psalm 27:1-4

 

The Lord is my light and my salvation; who shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

 

When evildoers assail me to eat my flesh;

My adversaries and foes, it is they who will stumble and fall.

 

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;

Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

 

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after;

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life;

To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. 

The Sixth Vial Judgment (Rev. 16:12-16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 09/17/2005

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Sixth Vial Judgment

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                             Reference:  Revelations 16: 12-16

 

            Message of the verse:  “12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east.  13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.  15 ("Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.")  16 And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.

            As I go through this wonderful study of this wonderful book of Revelations the Lord is teaching me more and more about this book, and one of the things that I see is you have to piece things together from one chapter to another in order to see the whole picture that is being painted.  That is what has to be done with these verses, for these verses tell only part of the story of the last battle here on earth, the battle that most people call Armageddon. “The name Armageddon comes from two Hebrew words, har Megiddo.  The word Megiddo means “place of troops” or “place of slaughter.”  It is also called the Plain of Esdraelon and the Valley of Jezreel.”  (From Warren Wiersbe’s book “Be Victorious.)  There have been many battles fought in this area of the world, but the most famous of them is still to come and these verses help to describe what will take place there in what could be not to far off. 

            Verse twelve describes the beginning of this judgment when the sixth angel pours out his vial on the river Euphrates and dries up the river so that the kings of the east can pass through it without any trouble, for you see God is the One who is putting this whole thing into motion, for He is in total control of it.  Verse thirteen and fourteen describes how antichrist gets all of the people to come there and fight as the unholy trinity takes part in this gathering.  They are doing what seems natural and right for them to do, yet God has planned all of this to happen long ago. 

            In verse fifteen the Lord gives a warning to those who will listen, telling His listeners to keep awake and be ready for His soon return. This warning is not just for those who will be alive at this time, but for all generations who have had the privilege of reading this book. 

            Verse sixteen is one of the most read and quoted verses in the Bible as it talks about the men being gathered in a place called Armageddon.  This name Armageddon has come to mean the end of the world to many who have read this and not really understood it, for it may be the last battle, but it is surely not the end of the world, and it is not the last battle either for after the 1000 year reign of Christ upon planet earth Satan will be let out of his captivity to once again entice men to fight again, but this will be a short battle and end quickly. 

            There are parallel passages to this battle of Armageddon in other parts of the Scriptures, for instance Zechariah twelve and fourteen describe this battle from Israel’s point of view.  “Joel 3:9-21 parallels the Zechariah references, and verse 19 there makes clear that God will punish the Gentiles for the way they have treated the Jews.  (See also Zeph. 3:8ff; Isa. 24.)”  “Warren Wiersbe’s book.)

            The outcome of this battle is seen in Revelations 19, which is about the return of Jesus Christ to earth, and at that time He will end this battle even though thoes who are fighting each other will begin to fight against the Lord, but to no avail. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As said above concerning this passage God is in control of all of this even though these plans to carry out seem to be coming from the unholy trinity.  What I can see in these verses can possibility relate to things that are going on in my life today, and that is that I believe that God is surely orchestrated all of this seemingly bad things that are going on in my life at this time and according to Romans 8:28 will work them out for my good and for His glory, and because of this I do trust Him with the outcome of all of these events.  With that been said I am hear to say that I do not act like I am trusting Him with the outcome of this all of the time, yet in my heart of hearts I do trust Him with the outcome.  It has been three plus years since all of this began, and God has taught me many lessons, and continues to teach me lessons throughout this event and I do not know how it will be that God will work this out, but I still must trust Him to work it out in the way He sees fit to do it, even though I hope and pray that someday real soon I will get those funds paid back to me that people owe me.

 

The Word of God has been challenging to my heart and also it has been refreshing to my heart as I read it and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord for His solution to the trials that I am going through.

 

Memory verses for the week:                Psalm 27:1-3

 

The Lord is my light and my salvation; who shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; in whom shall I be afraid?

 

When evildoers assail me to eat my flesh;

My adversaries and foes, it is they who will stumble and fall.

 

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;

Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

The Fifth Vial Judgment (Rev. 16:10-11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 09/16/2005

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Fifth Vial Judgment

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                            Reference:  Revelations 16: 10-11

 

            Message of the verse:  “10  Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, 11  and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.”

            The fifth vial judgment is poured out upon the throne of the antichrist and then the verse goes on to say it will be dark over his kingdom.  This judgment seems to be only for antichrist and his followers and not for those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is possible that this will happen throughout most of the world, with the possible exception of Israel, or it could just be upon the site where antichrist has set up his headquarters, which will probably be in Babylon.  At any rate this darkness will be the kind of darkness that you can actually feel, for you will not be able to see you hand in front of your face and on top of that all of antichrist’s followers will still be suffering from the first plague of having those Job like sores on their bodies.  One would think that this would cause some of them to begin to think about following the “God of heaven,” but all they will do is blaspheme Him.  The phrase “God of heaven” is used mostly in the OT and one of the times it is used there is in Daniel 2:44:  "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It does seem a bit strange that the ones who have this judgment directly upon them realize exactly where it originated from, and that is from the God of heaven.  These are the “earth-dwellers” who realize that the God of heaven is judging the earth because of its sinfulness and they will not repent.

            As I think about this phrase “God of heaven” it has made me think of some different aspects of what it means to me.  God has His home in heaven, but He owns the entire earth for He created it.  There are so called “gods” or idols on this earth, but God is in heaven and He is the One and only true God.  There are times when I worship idols on this earth, idols of money, power, lust, and things like that, which is sinful on my part for I should always worship the God of heaven through His Son Jesus Christ.

 

The Word of God has again brought challenge to my heart as I read and studied His Word this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today: To worship the One and only true God and not worship idols.

 

Memory verses for the week:                Psalm 27:1-3

 

The Lord is my light and my salvation; who shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; in whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me to eat my flesh;

My adversaries and foes, it is they who will stumble and fall.

 

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;

Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.