***BIBLE STUDY TIME*** ***1/1/15*** It’s a new year and we’re back with another chapter to study. After today we will be on the homestretch and have just five chapters left in the book of Revelation. With that said, let’s pick up again with Revelation chapter seventeen. “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, 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: 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. 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 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: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” Revelation 17:1-13 Here we see John talking with one of the angels that we were introduced to in the previous chapter. The angel shows John a finely dressed woman who is riding a beast. Now before I go any further I would like to point something out to you. Whatever God has or does, Satan imitates. Jesus did miracles, the antichrist will do miracles as well. God will set a kingdom up on the new Heaven and earth, Satan will set a kingdom up on this one. God has a trinity and so does Satan. This woman we are now introduced to is no exception nor is she really a woman. She actually is a metaphor for something else. You see the church is often called the bride of Christ. The church is called in feminine way because the church bares children in the form of new souls that get saved. In the same way, the woman who is finely dressed represents the church of Satan. Now when I say that I am not talking only about people who profess to be devil worshippers but everyone who does not accept Jesus as their savior for whatever reason. You see, it is easy to be part of the church of Satan, most members don’t even know that they are a member of it but if you let something keep you from being saved then you most certainly are a part of it. Also, the fact that the woman is riding the beast shows where her power comes from, being the antichrist or his spirit. In much the same way the church rides upon God for our power. Another thing, notice when the servants of God has been mentioned in this book they are depicted as wearing white robes. Honestly, there is nothing flashy about that. It’s plain just as salvation is. Salvation needs no bells and whistles because it’s salvation. The woman riding the beast however is decked out with colorful clothing and jewelry. In other words, she is flashy. She has to be because Satan has to offer you something to keep you blind to the ultimate consequences of not serving God. The scripture goes on to say that the woman is drunken on the blood of the saints. What this means is that the church of Satan rejoices and celebrates as the church loses ground and becomes less and less of an issue to them. We can even see this today when it comes to matters of blatant sin where if a Christian speaks up against it the world attacks them like a pack of dogs. The world does not want to hear the truth because deep down inside they know that what the Christian says is the truth and if they listen they might have to change and leave behind what Satan has given them. Following this, attention is turned to the beast itself which is said to have seven heads and ten horns. This time a meaning to the heads and horns are given. It says that the seven heads are seven mountains. Now there is only one place that sits on seven mountains and that is Rome so Rome is going to play some role in the end times. It also speaks of seven kings in which five are fallen and one is which would be the sixth. That tells us that there will be six rulers prior to the antichrist who will be the seventh. Then the scripture speaks of an eighth ruler. This is Satan himself. This part of the scripture raps up by mentioning ten kings which in John’s time had not yet received power. These kings are rulers of various countries of the world. They will be who the antichrist bewitches into giving him their power so that he can rule the entire world. “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” Revelation 17:14-18 The next thing that John sees is that the antichrist once receiving his power will make war. Now the scripture says that will make war with the Lamb but what it is speaking about is the antichrist’s persecution of the church which we read about in a previous chapter. But despite the best efforts of the antichrist he still loses in the end because he’s fighting against God and there is no force that can match that of God. The scripture then focuses back on the woman or whore as she is being called. It says that the water that she was sitting on represented people from all over the world and it would because there are so many that will be on this planet at that time who rejected salvation. The scripture says that the ten horns or the kings that we previously spoke about will hate the whore and destroy her. This shows the true character of Satan. He rewards and helps and encourages until he gets you to a point where you can’t go back and he can’t use you anymore. Then he disposes of you because you outlive your usefulness to him. All those who reject God are just pawns to Satan to be used and if they die, so what. God on the other hand legitimately cares about those who follow him and is preparing a special place called Heaven for us. I hope that you enjoyed our bible study today. Join us again, Sunday, when we move on to Revelation chapter eighteen.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 17:18:24 +0000
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