seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 17:1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 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 wilderness. 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. 5 The name written on her forehead was a 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 God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. 7 Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.
9 “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. 10 They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. 11 The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.
12 “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. 13 They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”
15 Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. 16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. 18 The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”
Hey.... question.... verse 18... could that be the Vatican City?
Back to studying.... This is where I got the following commentary.
Babylon was a literal city on the Euphrates River. Genesis 11:1-10 shows that right after the flood, Babylon “was the seat of the civilization that expressed organized hostility to God.” (Tenney)
Babylon was later the capitol of the empire that cruelly conquered Judah. “Babylon, to them (the Jews), was the essence of all evil, the embodiment of cruelty, the foe of God’s people, and the lasting type of sin, carnality, lust and greed.” (Tenney)
To those familiar with the Old Testament, the name Babylon is associated with organized idolatry, blasphemy and the persecution of God’s people.
“In John’s day Rome epitomized all the antagonism and opposition to the Christian faith.” (Mounce) In some ways, the city of Rome was the clearest fulfillment of the Babylon attitude. If we had to pick one city today that most exemplifies the world system, perhaps we would say that Los Angeles is the Babylon of today.
As a religious system, Babylon came into being long before Christianity, but in Satanic imitation it anticipated the coming true Messiah. According to religious history and legend, the Babylonian religion was founded by the wife of Nimrod (a great-grandson of Noah), named Semiramis. She was a high priestess of idol worship, and she gave birth to a son who she claimed was conceived miraculously. The son, named Tammuz, was considered a savior. Many ancient artifacts remain with the familiar motif of the mother Semiramis holding the savior-infant Tammuz, which predate Christianity. It was also said that Tammuz was killed by a wild beast and then miraculously brought back to life. Baal was the local, Canaanite name for the Babylonian Tammuz.
The inhabitants of the earth were made drunk: Religious Babylon intoxicates kings and peoples. Karl Marx was partly right when he said, “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” He was partly right because empty religion is the opium of the masses.
Made drunk with the wine of her fornication: The idea of fornication often has strong associations throughout the Bible with idolatry. Since this is a well-accepted religious system, it is likely to appear as attractive and spiritual, though not necessarily moral.
I'm not going to be long winded. This is a difficult chapter... and it's long.The humans that are left.... well, they are not Christians.... They're probably not atheists by this time either. These people are into idols.... money makes their world go around. They probably even have Jesus hanging on a Cross and a statue of Mary stashed somewhere safe [cool little idols] ... so, they won't be harmed in all the earthquakes. They do as they are told by what passes for a church in the future. They haven't accepted Jesus as their Savior.... They depend on the "church" to keep them with the "in crowd". They rent a pew right down front and pray louder than anyone so the world knows they worship the church.... note... "church" not "Christ".
A whore is a woman who will do it for money.
The Babylonian Whore is any "church" that is in it for the money, land, fine cloth for tapestries, and lots and lots of statues... all for sale in the rectory.
Don't let all the weird descriptions get in the way of the message.
The Church has become the Whore of Babylon.... Jesus has not mounted His Steed yet.
The "Church" is the Whore of Babylon!
