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Revelation 17- 19 The Harlot and the Bride
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication." So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. (Revelation 17:1-6)
Spiritual Harlotry: Idol Worship
As we near the end of the book of Revelation a new character
is introduced. She is called the great harlot and before her judgment
she is truly impressive. When John saw her, he "marveled with great
amazement." After all of the things that John has seen, to still
be amazed the sight must have been shocking indeed. At first sight the
woman is regal in appearance, clothed in purple and scarlet and adorned
with gold and precious stones. She sits on many waters and is surrounded
by the powerful of this world. But we quickly see that her real power
comes from the same beast that we have been studying before and her
thirst is for the blood of the saints. Who or what is this harlot? The
words on her forehead say "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots
and of the abominations of the earth." And "Mystery".
This is not to be understood simply, but rather it is a puzzle to be
worked out.
The angel then starts to walk John through the mystery. But first let
us start with the title of "harlot". This is very easy to
figure out in spiritual terms. In the Old Testament God accused Israel
many times of playing the harlot with the idols of the peoples who lived
around them. The most graphic illustration was when God commanded His
prophet Hosea to actually go out and marry a harlot. It was well calculated
by God, because when the people were scandalized to see this holy man
with a harlot and accused him of wrongdoing, Hosea could then turn around
and throw their accusation right back at them. They were guilty of going
to idols for help and ignoring their true husband, God. Ezekiel said
that Israel was worse than a harlot, because at least a harlot is motivated
by the payment. Israel had everything she needed from God and yet because
of her lust went out chasing after other gods anyway. The title of "Mother
of harlots and of the abominations of the earth", again points
to idolatry. The word "abomination" literally means "the
things that stink" Idol worship regularly involved human sacrifice
and ritual prostitution making the senseless worship of wood and stone
even more detestable in eyes of God as people were violated and enslaved
by it.
So obviously the great harlot is involved with idolatry, but that alone
does not make her a harlot. At one point she had to be a bride in order
to be called a harlot now. The reason why John was so amazed is because
this woman is the church! From the outside everyone will be calling
her the church. She will have that golden cup that from the outside
looks so good. But when you look inside you see that there is nothing
but filthiness. Just like Israel went from being the apple of God’s
eye to being a harlot, so too the church will also fall from grace.
But wait, this is not the same church that Jesus calls up to heaven
at the beginning of the tribulation. All those who call on the name
of Jesus Christ will be saved! This is what the worldwide church will
look like after all of the truly born again Christians are gone. Last
time I was in Oregon I saw a t-shirt with a picture of a little church
that obviously looked like it was in need of some repairs. The door
was shut, the windows boarded up, the parking lot empty. I thought,
"How sad" until I looked at the sign that somebody had thoughtfully
hung up on the door. It said, "Closed for Rapture". That is
a great t-shirt! But do you know what? There will be churches that won’t
be closed down by the rapture. The rapture will come and go and they
will hardly see a drop in attendance. All their members will still be
there. Why? Because there are a lot of churches that no longer preach
the gospel. There are a lot of churches that no longer believe in God’s
word. There are a lot of churches that teach idolatry to their congregations.
They worship psychology, or humanist philosophy, or political correctness
but have no idea how to worship Jesus Christ.
But the angel said to me, "Why did you marvel? I will tell you mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns." (Revelation 17:7)
Worldwide Church Based in Rome
The angel explains that the woman sits on the beast, the
same Antichrist that we learned about before. This chapter adds some
new things about the Antichrist but I would like to focus in on the
woman. In verse 9 we find that the seven heads of the beast are seven
mountains on which the woman sits. It would be obvious to any reader
in the first century that this means Rome, which is built on seven hills.
The many waters, in verse 15 are explained to be peoples, multitudes,
nations and tongues. So it would seem that the church during the tribulation
period will have its headquarters in Rome and that it will be a worldwide
church with people from all parts of the world counted as its members.
Let me make it perfectly clear that I am not talking about the Roman
Catholic Church of today. This will be a consolidation of all the churches
in the world that still have members (or leadership) left after the
rapture.
Considering the efforts of the Antichrist to consolidate world power
it will make sense that the churches will be pressured to join together
into one entity. Here in Japan a very similar thing happened during
the rise of nationalism. Some thirty different Christian denominations
were forced to join the Nihon Kirisuto Kyodan or be expelled from the
country. In the same way the remaining churches will see many advantages
to joining the worldwide church centered in Rome. In fact the power
of that church will be immense. In verse 18 it says, "And the woman
whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth."
As we continue to read in chapter 18, not only is the church a religious
power, but it is also a financial and political power. The merchants
of the earth are described as becoming rich through the abundance of
her luxury. The kings of the world are living luxuriously with her.
If you remember the deal that the Antichrist made with the Jews then
you will start to wonder why he is letting the church have this much
wealth and power. In the first three and one half years of the tribulation
the Antichrist will be consolidating his power. It is most likely that
he will emerge as the leader of one of the kingdoms in a consortium
and considering that the church in Rome is described as riding these
kings, this consortium will also probably be based in Rome. During this
time he will become the hero of the world, the man who brought world
peace by solving the Middle East problem. The Jews will be happy building
their temple and the Arabs will be happy to get the land. Meanwhile
the church will be happy because it will be making a huge profit. I
read in the news a while ago about the trouble that the leader of one
denomination got into. It would seem that this man was a power broker
who used his influence to extort millions of dollars from companies.
One story that surfaced was that he promised to promote a certain funeral
home service in his denomination in exchange for large sums of money.
There is one of the biggest problems that denominations have. Because
of the amount of people and the amount of money that a denomination
is responsible for, there is a lot of power. Power attracts ambition
and greed. So unfortunately there are people in high places in the church
who are influenced more by ambition and greed than by love and the Holy
Spirit. This is part of the sinful world that we live in. But imagine
what the church will be like when all the righteous leaders are raptured
out, and ONLY the ambitious greedy leaders are left! The church will
become one vast financial empire. But it is not allowed to build that
empire for long. Because just as the Antichrist doublecrosses the Jews
and sets himself up in the temple in Jerusalem, he will also doublecross
this greedy church.
And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17: 16-18)
It would seem that when the time is right the kings will throw off this greedy woman and utterly destroy her. Chapter 18 tells us that her destruction will come in one hour and everyone will watch from a distance as to not come to close to her burning. The kings will be shedding crocodile tears for her, but actually they will be lamenting the wealth and luxury that they used to share with her. Most likely, after her purpose is served the church will be much to big a threat to the Antichrist and besides even in apostasy there will be too many reminders of Jesus Christ for him to be comfortable. It seems from the description that both the world headquarters of religion and the headquarters of the consortium of nations from which the Antichrist arises will be wiped out by a nuclear blast that destroys the entire city without leaving a trace. The kings will be warned beforehand, but the religious leaders will not. After the smoke clears the only one left with any real power will be the Antichrist based in Jerusalem.
After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her." And again they said, "Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!" And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, "Amen! Alleluia!" Then a voice came from the throne, saying, "Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him both small and great!" And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." (Revelation 19:1-9)
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
At last, after the false church is judged, attention is
called to the true church. Compared with the harlotry of the church
that turned away from Jesus Christ, the church that is righteous is
called his bride. Marriage here on earth is not just a contract between
two parties to share a house and bank account. Instead the ultimate
goal of marriage is an ongoing intimate relationship. Paul taught that
marriage on earth is actually a picture of the way that Christ loves
the church. In heaven we will enjoy that love, the deep intimacy that
continues on and on, between us and the Lord Jesus. Watching Satoru
and Hiroko get ready for their wedding day has reminded me of how much
work and preparation goes into it. Likewise the Lamb’s wife has
made herself ready and the word says, "to her it was granted to
be arrayed in find linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the
righteous acts of the saints." There is nothing in this bride of
the pride, ambition or greed of the harlot. Instead she is without "spot
or wrinkle or any such thing". It is because Jesus Himself has
washed her clean. "Christ loved the church and gave Himself for
her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water
by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be
holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:25-27)
The only way for us to make ourselves ready is to put our faith in Him
and then walk in the good works that He prepares for us. Otherwise all
of our best efforts will only end up showing off our sin. Without Jesus,
the church is dead. Without the word of God, the church is dying. Let
us look forward to the day when we a called to the marriage supper of
the Lamb.
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