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REVELATION CHAPTERS 16 & 17 KJV WEB See previous page Rev 16,1-21 (49c) Judgment >> Enemies of God’s righteousness are destroyed (Armageddon) – The iconic image of endtimes, a darkened sky where the sun no longer gives its light and the moon turns blood red, is stated many times in the Old Testament, also in Revelation chapter six and eight, suggesting that some of the plagues of the seals and trumpets were repeated in the bowls, only on a much grander scale. For instance, recall that the sixth seal was a massive earthquake, and then the first trumpet called for “hail and fire mixed with blood” (Rev 8-7). With respect to the bowls it is possible that the earthquake triggered a massive volcano that erupted, spewing red soot into the air that fell to the ground, giving the appearance of a bloodied landscape. Then again, some descriptions of the Trumpet judgments sounded like an asteroid hit the earth (Rev 8-8), which could have the effect of triggering very large earthquakes prepared for a certain day and hour, which in turn triggered super volcanoes in the ring of fire, that for thousands of years remained dormant but now are on the verge of erupting. This explains the oceans turning blood red. The alleged asteroids/earthquakes/volcanoes occurred during the seals and trumpets, when it says it did not rain on certain parts of the earth for 3½ years. Consequently, the second bowl may be the result of rain finally returning, but instead of it blessing the earth the water washed the red soot into the sea and into the streams, turning them blood red and lowering the PH levels so that every living thing in them died, and the water became undrinkable. This kind of soot is so fine that when it enters water it becomes colloidal, meaning permanently suspended, so that no filter can strain it out of solution. See also: asteroid; Rev 16,9-11; 18i / Earthquakes; Rev 16,17-21; 49b / Volcanoes; Rev 16,1-12; 47f / Hell in incomprehensible; Rom 11,33-36; 217b (49h) Judgment >> God judges the world >> The last days >> The day of judgment – God's judgment on the wicked was His way of being intimate with unbelievers who rejected the cleansing blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and instead received the Mark of the Beast and worshipped his image. Although this was a display of His wrath, it was a way of cleansing the people apart from the blood of Christ, but pouring these bowls of wrath on them did not acceptably cleanse them according to God's standard of purity, so they will have to submit to an eternal purifying process in hell, where they will be continually cleansed. God gave us a shortcut and let Jesus cleans us with His blood, which sufficiently purified us, so we have bypassed the eternal sentence of hell. See also: Mark of the beast; 250h / Hell; Rev 16,1-12; 47f / Cross of Christ legitimizes hell; Lk 23,35-37; 19i (250h) Priorities >> God’s prerequisites >> Sequence of priorities >> The first is a precondition for what comes after it (Cause and effect) – This chapter refers to the Bowls of God’s judgment that occur after the Trumpets. The Church was raptured at the Last Trumpet, and so the Church is not here during the Bowls. It says about the Rapture that He is coming in the clouds. Left to our imagination, we visualize clouds that we normally see. However, when we look at some of the plagues of the Bowls, it seems apparent what kind of clouds in which Jesus will be coming, not white, fluffy ones but an asteroid plume after it hits the earth at 10,000 miles an hour. Such a cloud would circle the globe in a matter of hours, and Jesus will be riding the front wave of this plume, rapturing his people in the first resurrection. The aftermath of this asteroid striking the earth would explain some of the plagues described in the Bowls of God’s fierce wrath that occur immediately after the Rapture. The first plague is boils; the second plague is the streams and rivers becoming like blood; the third is the sea becoming like blood so that everything in the sea died. A big enough asteroid could do that. The next plague refers to the sun scorching people with fire. A volcano wouldn’t do this, though it would send massive amounts of ash and dust into the atmosphere enough to block out the sun, but it would result in cooling the earth instead of heating it. However, an asteroid would introduce an enormous amount of energy into earth’s closed system enough to heat the atmosphere to legitimize the forth plague, and then the fifth Bowl was darkness, and people gnawed their tongues because of pain from respiring ash and dust. Keep in mind that the seals, the trumpets and the bowls are all additive, meaning just because John quit mentioning them doesn't mean they have dissipated. Now that the world is experiencing the bowls doesn't mean the repercussions of the Trumpets are no longer plaguing the world. Also, throughout the book of Revelation we have seen a cause and effect system at work. For example in the seals, the world economic system collapsed, causing the global monetary system to suddenly halt, which brought about riots and unrest, and then hunger and death, and then wars and desperation, until people were willing to receive the Mark of the Beast just to eat. The trumpets were also based on a cause and effect system; they tried killing God's Two Witnesses, who were raining plagues on them, which prompted the angels to blow their trumpets. The bowls are no different; people developed malignant sores as a result of receiving the Mark of the Beast. “Malignant” means these sores were capable of spreading throughout the body and was often fatal if not treated. It sounds like people developed skin cancer who took the mark. They apparently did not do enough research on this microchip, which may have released toxic chemicals into their system, or possibly heavy metals like mercury leached into their bloodstream poisoning them. See also: Skin cancer; Rev 16-2; 194f / Mark of the beast; Rev 16,1-12; 186h KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 16,1-12 (15j) Servant >> Angels execute Judgment >> In regard to the world -- These verses go with verse 17 (47f) Judgment >> God Judges the world >> Hell is a place of torment – The plagues of the trumpets and bowls depict hell reaching up and tormenting mankind before the time. The people cursed God and grumbled that it never rained, so God sent rain on the earth that mixed with the soot of volcanoes that had been popping around the ring of fire, and the rain mixed with soot and polluted the waters, so their thirst continued. Although the groundwater was unaffected, what was left of it, man had been pumping it from the ground for the last 3½ years without rain replenishing the underground aquifers. During some of the plagues of the trumpets, God allowed hell to manifest, as though anxious to receive its inhabitants and established its environment on the earth's surface. Horrific, demonic, crawling creatures emerged from the abyss and dragged its victims into its lair of darkness (Revelation chapter nine). During the Bowls, God allowed hell to manifest again in the form of great thirst, as Jesus described in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16,19-31). Taking away all the fresh water of the earth man will become parched with no drinkable water. The rich man was tormented in the eternal flames, yet this was nothing compared to the thirst he suffered. There is no water in hell, and he longed for Lazarus to dip his finger into the water that was visible across the impassible chasm, asking Lazarus to touch a single drop on his tongue “…for I am in agony in this flame.” This judgment of excessive thirst is their future, when death claims their lifeless bodies and pulls their souls into its hellish, inescapable den. See also: Hell; 186h / Volcanoes; Rev 16,9-11; 18i (49f) Judgment >> Enemies of the prophets are destroyed (186h) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> The reprobate >> Man’s role in becoming a reprobate >> Being unable to repent – They did not repent because they could not repent, those who had received the Mark of the Beast, carrying the automatic sentence of hell. Everyone who receives the mark has a reprobate mind, like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, who also were incapable of repentance, Jesus told them, “How will you escape the sentence of hell” (Mat 23-33). See also: Mark of the beast; Rev 16,1-7; 189f / Hell; Rev 16,9-11; 18i (245g) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Manifestation of God’s righteous judgment >> Manifestation of God’s justice -- These verses go with verses 18-21. God executed judgment against the world from the standpoint of the temple, as mentioned in Rev 15-5, “The temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened.” There is a temple in heaven, which has a Most Holy Place, but it also says, "I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple." God is the temple and we are in Christ, yet no one was allowed in the temple during His judgment against the wicked, because He shares His final authority over all creation with no one, for the wicked have sinned against no one but Him (Psalm 51-4). No one was allowed in the temple during this period of judgment, not even the seven angels who had the seven plagues, as it says in Rev 15-6, “The seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple.” See also: Temple; Rev 17-1,2; 161n Temple of worship (Golden Altar of Incense represented prayer); Phi 4-18,19; 190a Rev 16,1-7 (189f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Martyr >> Martyrs bring about the judgment of God – Extract verses 5&6 from Revelation chapter 16 and the entire book of Revelation would just be a hodgepodge of strange occurrences, terrifying wars, weird descriptions of creatures, scenes in heaven and mystifying judgments from God, but verses 5&6 explain the reason behind it all. The world shed the blood of the saints for the opportunity to participate in Satan’s economy powered by the Mark of the Beast. Satan, using the rebellious world to exterminate the Church, is why God judged the world, and it is why He dropped the curtain on the age of grace. The point of Revelation is this: don’t mess with God’s worshipers. There have been many dark and evil days in history, such as World Wars I&II, including Hitler's aim to rid the world of the Jewish race, but endtime prophecy wasn't fulfilled because, though they were His people according to the flesh, they were not His people according to the Spirit. That is, Faith in Jesus Christ was missing from the fulfillment of endtime prophecy in Hitler's holocaust. God viewed them the same as unbelieving gentiles, and though he may have eventually gotten around to martyring Christians, his reign of terror ended before that. Had Hitler murdered Jews who actually believed in Jesus, that would have changed everything; as it is, though, we can look to the past as a dress rehearsal of the coming days of antichrist. See also: Blood of the saints; Rev 16-5,6; 218d / Mark of the beast; Rev 16-2; 194f / Israel (Holocaust); Rev 18,15-24; 21m Rev 16-1,2 (50k) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> bowls of God's judgment >> First bowl - Loathsome and malignant sore Rev 16-1 (106c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Knowing the sound of His voice >> Flowing with the wind of His voice (115e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through your ministry >> By the word of God – It was not actually the seven angels who were executing judgment but God, who used the seven angels to pour out the bowls of His mighty wrath on the immoral world of unrepentant sinners. Technically, God’s wrath was not contained in the bowls; they merely symbolized His wrath, yet had the angels not poured out their bowls, God would not have executed His wrath. Therefore, God performs all His works through the obedience of His faithful servants. It wasn’t the angels who did the work, but God worked through them to exact judgment on His enemies. See also: Prostitute; Rev 17,1-18; 50g (231i) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Body of Christ is the organism of God’s kingdom >> Jesus is the head of His body’s kingdom >> To be in Christ is to be in the great city KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 16-2 (194f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Hate evil >> Condemning sin >> Judging evil – This sounds like skin cancer. Some say it is the result of taking the Mark of the Beast; whatever materials were used in the chip gave people cancer. It is also just as possible that these boils are the result of a nuclear holocaust with all the radiation that was released in the earth during WWIII in the second seal (Rev 6-3,4). Either way, it is the first of seven bowls that God will pour on the ungodly. The world has been evil in the past; look what man did in the two great world wars; millions of people lost their lives, and everybody lived in abject misery during those wars, but the judgment of God did not fall on mankind; war itself was the judgment. Basically man was judging himself for disobeying God and rejecting His Son. If the world will not receive Jesus Christ, then it will go to war, but if people receive Him, wars will end. They did end for a season; there were no wars in the first and second century, but in the third century war returned to the earth and has continued to this day. God judges the world in the last days due to martyring the saints. There has always been persecution; many Christians have lost their lives throughout the age of grace; even today Christians are being murdered for their faith, but never has the entire world come into agreement to eliminate the Church in a way that would have succeeded, had God not stopped the carnage. See also: Skin cancer; Rev 16,1-21; 250h / Mark of the beast; Rev 16-12; 65c Rev 16-3 (50k) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> bowls of God's judgment >> Second bowl - Sea turned to blood, killing everything in it Rev 16,4-7 (50k) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> bowls of God's judgment >> Third bowl - Poisoned all the fresh water of the earth Rev 16,5-7 (40l) Judgment >> God is glorified >> God defends His righteousness through judgment Rev 16-5,6 (75d) Thy kingdom come >> Motives of the heart >> God’s motives (189d) Martyr (Key verse) (218d) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Reaping the harvest >> We choose our actions, not their consequences >> God controls the consequences of our actions – Definition of Martyrdom: A disciple of Jesus who has been given an early pass into the Kingdom of Heaven with honors. Not only is God judging the world with thirst, He’s judging the world because the ungodly has poured out the blood of the saints during the seals of Satan’s wrath. Like disciplining a dog, we spank immediately after it disobeys so it pairs the behavior with the consequences. See also: Blood of the saints; Rev 17,1-18; 134i (242a) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecution to the death >> Killing God’s prophets Rev 16-5 (133a) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Holiness >> God is holy >> The Father is holy Rev 16-8,9 (50k) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> bowls of God's judgment >> Forth bowl - Sun scorched the earth with fire – We can hardly watch the news without hearing about global warming, the more we watch the news, the more it seems that judgment is already being prepared for the unfolding of endtime prophecy. People who are suffering from draught and families whose homes are being washed away by floods believe in global warming, or at least they should. The judgment of global warming is that man is causing it. If people believed this was a judgment from God, maybe they wouldn’t report it in the news so often. Again, if they knew that God would use man’s global warming some day to scorch men with fire as one of the Bowls of His fierce wrath against unbelief, maybe they wouldn’t burn so many fossil fuels. The news is making money reporting on global warming, but one day they will be scorched with fire in a way that is far more severe than we have seen so far, and the Bible says that God is behind it, even though we see people spewing smoke from their tail pipes and out chimneys of factories. They are willing to attribute these problems to themselves, and the government is willing to take steps to find an alternative fuel source to fossil fuels, which they say are the source of increasing greenhouse gases, but when endtime prophecy unfolds and it becomes a judgment from God, they will blaspheme His name. People are willing to forgive themselves for all their stupidity and trouble they cause and are able to laugh about it, ‘Isn’t that just how we are,’ but when God judges them, they hate Him for it. Wicked sinners hate God for His judgments, because He is righteous and they deserve whatever they get. (104c) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Purified by fire >> Purified through fiery judgment Rev 16,9-11 (18i) Sin >> Twisted thinking >> Unable to distinguish between good and evil >> God’s purpose is evil – The fourth bowl was the sun scorching the earth and the very next bowl, the fifth bowl, dictates that the sun no longer shines on the earth. We can just hear man complain that the sun is too hot, and so God says, 'Ok, I'll turn it off for you.' All these plagues contained in the bowls of God's judgment are depictions of hell, which is where most of the inhabitants of earth are going. God introduced them to loathsome sores that do not heal, then to severe thirst, then to fierce heat, and now to darkness that makes man gnaw their tongues from the pain. It is unlikely that anything happened to the sun to darken it; rather, something happened to the earth to keep the sun from shining through what sounds like heavy soot and ash in the atmosphere that remained suspended for a time. Joel 2-30,31 says, “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” Joel is speaking of a time before the Rapture, but this verse refers to a time after that. Many of the plagues that occurred during the seals and trumpets will occur again during the bowls, only with greater intensity, and this includes Joel’s description of smoke and ash. They may have been emitted from the eruption of super-volcanoes, or more likely from an asteroid that hit the earth, accounting for the intense heat; otherwise, a supervolcano's ash plumb that blocks out the sun would tend to cool the planet. Inhaling this pollutant would burn people’s lungs to the point of making them gnaw their tongues from pain. This plague is reminiscent of some of the biblical descriptions of hell (smoke and darkness), so again we have hell reaching up and tormenting its inhabitants before death pulls them into its lair of eternal punishment. Some people think God is evil for doing this, but He is giving the people what they deserve (Rev 9-20,21). See also: Hell; Rev 17,1-6; 173f / Asteroid, Volcanoes; Rev 16-10,11; 53k (157i) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Having a reprobate mind (181b) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebellion >> Rebelling against God >> Rebelling against the witness of God -- These verses go with verses 17-21. (186b) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Cursing the Holy Spirit >> Consider the work of the Holy Spirit to be sin -- These verses go with verse 21 (201i) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running from God >> Man’s will over God >> Man is unwilling to repent (202i) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running from God >> Running from walking in faith >> Running from God through disobedience -- These verses go with verse 21 Rev 16-10,11 (50k) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> bowls of God's judgment >> Fifth bowl - Throne of the beast was darkened (53k) Paradox >> Opposites >> What I used to think >> I thought sinners liked darkness – The Bible teaches that the devil dwells in darkness. Since he likes darkness so much, God thought He would give it to him and his kingdom, but apparently he doesn’t like God’s version of darkness. God gives sinners what they want, only on His terms. Sinners worshipped Satan in darkness, so God gave them darkness that they might worship him in it, and they gnawed their tongues from pain. The source of their pain was soot in the air they were breathing, either from erupting volcanoes or from an asteroid strike, or both. So, if Satan and his servants get what they want, will it make them happy? So many of our desires could not possibly make us happy. This is why it is expedient to serve the Lord, for His promise is that He will fill our lives with purpose and joy if we persevere in service to Him. Satan is the opposite of God: he promises happiness but we never see it, and God promises tribulation but He makes us happy. See also: Asteroid, Volcanoes; Rev 16,1-21; 49c KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 16,12-16 (50k) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> bowls of God's judgment >> Sixth bowl - Preparations for the war against God – Recall that in the beginning of the Trumpets the Two Witnesses disallowed rain to fall on one third of the earth, and for this reason the great Euphrates River became a dried riverbed. The bowls of God’s fierce wrath have upended the dragon's empire, and as a result he went from ruling a highly sophisticated society to controlling a lot of spear chuckers. It said that from the mouths of the unholy trinity proceeded demons, “three unclean spirits like frogs.” Here again is an occurrence of demons as creatures of various shapes, sizes and deformities with the appearance of ugly and grotesque animals (review the fifth and sixth trumpets in chapter nine). It says that frogs held the closest resemblance to them. These demonic spirits of deception targeted the leaders of nations and confounded them, so that they came together against Israel to wipe Jerusalem off the map in the war of Armageddon. This war will be fought outside the city, for in their attempted invasion of Jerusalem Jesus will ambush them in the valley of Megiddo and make war with them with the sword of His mouth. He will say something to His enemies, like He did at His capture on the night of His betrayal, "I AM He," and they all fell to the ground (Jn 18,4-6). It was as though he shot blanks at them that night because His hour had come and the power of darkness was theirs, but this hour belonged to Christ and the power of God was behind Him, so when He spoke (probably the same words) they all fell to the ground as before, only this time they did not get up. The sixth bowl is the precursor to the war of Armageddon, which is iconic to endtime prophecy. Anybody who does not go to war against Jerusalem (those who are absent in the valley of Megiddo on that day) will be spared, but everyone present will be destroyed. See also: Armageddon; Rev 16-12; 8i / Christ subdues His enemies through the Church; 1Cor 15-25; 48n Rev 16-12 (8i) Responsibility >> Responsible to defend God's cause >> Preparing for Judgment – The sixth bowl does not seem very severe, yet ironically the ramifications of this bowl will later become man’s greatest downfall. The sixth bowl enables the army of the nations to cross the Euphrates River to access Jerusalem with the intent of destroying it, except that God is protecting the holy city, so that when this last tyrannical army comes against the city of God, He will destroy it. The River Euphrates dried up as a result of past plagues, such as in the days of the Two Witnesses when it did not rain on one third of the earth for 3½ years, supplemented by the fourth bowl of a scorching sun. This indicates technologically how civilization has declined, from implementing a world-wide computer system that can track every person using the Mark of the Beast, a description of our own day and time, to now being unable to attack Jerusalem unless the Euphrates River dries up, otherwise the army would not have been able to cross it, suggesting that all the bridges have been destroyed. Today, if we wanted to destroy a city, we wouldn’t care if there were a river in the way; we would just send bomber planes. Therefore, the sixth bowl confirms that man has regressed to the Stone Age. See also: Armageddon; 65c (65c) Paradox >> Anomalies >> God helps Satan >> God unites Satan’s efforts to make war with Jesus – There has been no other time in history when man has been capable of implementing the mark of the beast until now. Even in the eighties we weren’t sophisticated enough to do this, so the book of Revelation is depicting quite a fall of mankind within a decade. Here we are in the 21st century and the big push in society is technology. This doesn’t surprise those who follow biblical prophecy. By the time the sixth bowl is released, our technological society has been pounded into the stone age as a result of the wreckage that the spiritual realm has imposed on mankind for obeying Satan, having pummeled the earth and making the conveniences we enjoy today infeasible. At the sixth bowl man is living as in the days of about the 13th century, standing along the Euphrates River scratching their heads, wondering how to get a large army across it. They probably said, ‘Look how stupid God is to let the river dry up so we can attack His people and destroy His city.’ God helps Satan accomplish his goals, but instead of Satan doing his will, God completes His own plans. See also: Mark of the beast; Rev 16-15; 4j / Armageddon; Rev 16,13-16; 160g Rev 16,13-16 (160g) Works of the devil >> Satan determines the world's direction >> Led by the devil to fight against God – Satan used the false logic that if Christians and Jews don't exist, God does not have a people to rule and prophecy cannot be fulfilled, and in that sense defeat Him on some level, and so during the Seals of Satan's wrath he tried to eliminate both Jews and Christian. Now at the sixth bowl, Satan rallies what remains of the world to attack Jerusalem and wipe it off the map (with sticks and stones), under the misguided logic that if the Holy City doesn't exist, Jesus cannot rule the earth in the Millennium. The war of Armageddon happens near the end of the sequence of endtime events, the so-called war against God, which is just a slaughter, fought by reprobates obeying Satan. He used his accursed children in a hopeless attempt to defeat God. He failed to defeat Christ while clothed i n weakness of human flesh, so what makes him think he can defeat Him now in His glorified state? See also: Armageddon; 215g (215g) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The judgments of God come suddenly >> Without warning – Jesus said, “For the sake of the elect those days will be cut short” (Mat 24-22). He didn’t say that the numbers of martyrs will be shortened but the number of days, so the antichrist simply won’t have time to kill everybody. This means he will be behind schedule, on the run, always trying to catch-up. The War of Armageddon occurs just before Jesus returns to the earth and sets foot on the Mount of Olives. It doesn’t say they are a cloud of humanity or numbers that cannot be counted; rather, their numbers will be small, not millions but thousands will remain of the once great populations that once inhabited the earth but have since dwindled from the Seals, Trumpets and Bowls of God's judgment. Those who remain on the earth will all come together in one place, just outside Jerusalem, and they will fight against God. They will be coming against Jerusalem, but when Christ intervenes, they will in vain turn their attack on Him. They are out of their minds, having only swords and clubs for weapons to fight against Almighty God. People’s reasoning will have left them. See also: Armageddon; Rev 16,12-16; 50k Rev 16-13,14 (65h) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Satan unites the world for the cause of deception -- These verses go with verse 16 (145j) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Demon possession >> Human state >> Their behavior >> Immoral spirits (160b) Works of the devil >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit spirit (163k) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Entertaining demons >> Disciplined by the devil as a son -- These verses go with verse 16 (164d) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan rules the world >> Satan is a tyrant over the world -- These verses go with verse 16 (183d) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Witchcraft >> Anointing of error Rev 16-13 (159k) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit anointing >> Counterfeit signs and wonders (245k) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Manifestations of the devil >> Manifestation of sin KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 16-15 (4j) Responsibility >> The choices you make >> Accountable for your deeds – The last days cannot be compared to any other time in history. Being a Christian in those days will not be a cakewalk but one of the most excruciating times to be alive. As we can see in this verse, walking naked in public (metaphorically speaking) will not be uncommon. Garments symbolize our deeds; the garments that Jesus advocated are referenced in the statement He made in Mat 24-12, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Jesus is clearly speaking to the remnant when he said this. Although the Church will no longer be on the earth at this time, the remnant will be here, those who did not take the Mark of the Beast nor believed in Jesus at the time of the Rapture but have since believed in Him. Christ will direct them to migrate to Jerusalem and live under the city, right under the nose of the beast. They will live in the catacombs, until the seventh bowl before which they should emerge from their hiding place so when the earthquake strikes they will not be buried in the labyrinths. See also: Mark of the beast; 84a / Remnant; 84a / Millennium (Spiritual then the natural); Jn 11,46-48; 39ja (49i) Judgment >> Judgment day >> He will come like a thief in the night (69b) Authority >> Discernment >> Discerning the Truth (84a) Thy kingdom come >> Be on the alert >> Remain on duty >> Stay awake – He is talking to the post-Rapture people, saying there is still hope for some people as long as they have not taken the Mark of the Beast. They are the kind of people today who rebel against society, who do not take the Corona vaccine but neither do they much believe in Jesus. See also: Remnant; 92d / Mark of the beast; 92d (92d) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> Trail of good works >> Putting on His good works – Jesus is talking to the remnant in this verse, who remain after the Rapture, who have not taken the Mark of the Beast and have since come to believe in Jesus. Clothes in the Bible represent our good works. Nakedness therefore represents a person who has no good works. Consequently, God cites the unbeliever with public nudity, but they are unaware they are naked (like the Children's tale "Emperor’s New Clothes"). They need to develop a God-consciousness by getting saved. “Blessed is he who stays awake,” suggests that God equates falling asleep to indecent exposure. Imagine the shame of public nudity, and then imagine the shame of standing in front of God without a stitch of clothing. Jesus said, “Behold, I am coming like a thief.” For this reason Jesus said more often than anything in the gospels, “Stay on the alert,” especially in the last days. Falling asleep takes us back to the parable of the Ten Virgins, when both the wise and foolish fell asleep during the night (this passage refers to the foolish virgins). Instead of napping and keeping one eye open, they bedded down for the night. They got comfortable and took off their clothes, and were committed to getting a good night sleep. Their consciousness of God fell asleep. On earth, clothes represent the knowledge of God and righteousness, not God's righteousness, our good works. Conversely, in heaven clothes represent the knowledge of sin and righteousness, not our righteousness but His. God had to clothe Adam and Eve after they sinned; He had to kill an animal to clothe them, symbolizing the righteousness of Jesus' blood sacrifice to clothe us in His righteousness (Genesis 3-21,22). In heaven we will know about sin yet be without sin; both God and man suffered a lot to attain this situation, for God has forgiven us and made us holy. See also: Mark of the beast; Rev 16,17-21; 181b / Remnant; Rev 16-15; 92d / knowledge of evil (Adam knew what he was doing more than Eve); 1Tim 2,11-15; 181a (93a) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> Keep yourself on the narrow way (99d) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Enduring the will of God >> Endure abiding in Him (100e) Thy kingdom come >> Diligence >> Diligence in the sight of God (102a) Thy kingdom come >> Ambitious to fulfill God’s calling >> To see God’s will in your life (113a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Heaven’s clothes >> Protection >> Covering (127k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Goodness >> Rewards for doing good >> Doing good hides your shame (153d) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Shame >> Hiding under a cloud of guilt >> Your sin will find you out (190g) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Circumcision >> Undressing >> Naked before God (206k) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Eternal security? >> Perish in your sin >> Perish in your omission of righteousness – Jesus said, “Bless is he who… keeps his garments [on].” This paints a word picture of a person getting sleepy and taking off his clothes for bedtime but then finds himself publicly walking in the buff. The fact that they were wearing clothes at one time means they were once saved but then spiritually fell asleep, until the angel sounded his trumpet (Mat 25,1-13). The Christian who loses his God-consciousness has fallen asleep and exposes himself before God and man. Many people think it is impossible to lose our salvation, but we can. They must modify half the Bible in order to believe in Eternal Security. If we take off our clothes, it means we quit believing in Jesus. Rev 16-16 (65h) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Satan unites the world for the cause of deception -- This verse goes with verses 13&14 (163k) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Entertaining demons >> Disciplined by the devil as a son -- This verse goes with verses 13&14. In Mat 24-22 whe n Jesus said that if He didn’t intervene, all life would be destroyed, most of all life was destroyed, and in this war of Armageddon, every person will be killed, sparing no one, so who remained? There will be a still smaller group consisting probably of a few hundred, hiding under Jerusalem in the catacombs, but as things grow dim for their enemies, they will surface and await the arrival of their Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. These are the real left-behind people from the Rapture, who survived the Bowls of God’s judgment, and they will be the people who will repopulate the earth during the Millennium. Jesus had them in mind when He said no life would have been saved had He not intervened. See also: Remnant; Rev 16-15; 4j (164d) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan rules the world >> Satan is a tyrant over the world -- This verse goes with verses 13&14 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 16,17-21 (49b) Judgment >> Nations are destroyed >> God judges the nations through the Church – God shook complacency from the Church during the Seals. There is mention of an earthquake like this in Heb 12,25-29, “At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’” God's judgment in the last days acts as a gradient of severity intrinsic to endtime prophecy from a figurative shaking to literally the most powerful earthquake the world has ever seen. Note that the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, the atmosphere surrounding the earth, in the same space the devil once ruled the world as the prince of the power of the air, echoing his deceit in the minds of his worshippers. Jesus said that the "stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken," as a result of this earthquake. Moreover, when God said, “It is done [finished],” Jesus uttered those words on the cross, suggesting that so much judgment has plagued the earth because man rejected the blood sacrifice of His Son. This earthquake is the ultimate judgment of God, yet He promised to judge the Church before He judges the world (1Pet 4,17-19). See also: Earthquakes; 181b (50k) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> bowls of God's judgment >> Seventh bowl - Greatest earthquake in human history (181b) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebellion >> Rebelling against God >> Rebelling against the witness of God -- These verses go with verses 9-11. It would seem unlikely that it would hail on the entire face of the earth, but that will not be necessary, since the entire human population will have decreased and most have camped in regions around Israel. This earthquake is extremely severe, holding to the pattern of greater intensity with each successive judgment throughout the seals, trumpets and bowls. Despite hell that has been unleashed on the earth, there are still people amazingly alive. Many of them will lose their lives in the war of Armageddon, the war against God, but there will be others who will not take part in it, who have not received the Mark of the Beast, who have sought refuge in Jerusalem, and others who have been in hiding from the dragon, from the beast and from the false prophet and anyone who would condemned them. Their deliverance is coming. This is the greatest earthquake the world has ever known. An earthquake occurred at the end of the seals prior to the trumpets that was also very severe but not of this magnitude. The one that occurred between the seals and the trumpets (Rev 6,12-17) moved the islands and mountains, but did not remove them like this one did. It literally changed the topography of the earth in preparation for the Millennium. See also: Mark of the beast; Rev 17,1-6; 173f / Earthquakes; Rev 16,18-21; 245g Rev 16-17 (15j) Servant >> Angels execute Judgment >> In regard to the world -- This verse goes with verses 1-12 (38f) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> God judged the world, the flesh and the devil Rev 16,18-21 (245g) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Manifestation of God’s righteous judgment >> Manifestation of God’s justice -- These verses go with verses 1-12. The seventh angel poured out his bowl on the air, which is the medium that once belonged to Satan, the prince of the power of the air; and God's message was broadcast around the globe, just as Satan broadcasted his messages throughout the world. The cities of every nation fell by a great earthquake that had its epicenter in Jerusalem, splitting it into three parts, leaving the city in the center with great crevasses on every side. See also: Earthquakes; Rev 16,1-21; 49c KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 16-18,19 (64a) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Limits of God >> God cannot tolerate sin >> He cannot allow unbelief in His presence Rev 16-21 (108e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Balance >> God's sovereignty balances good from evil (186b) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Cursing the Holy Spirit >> Consider the work of the Holy Spirit to be sin -- This verse goes with verses 9-11 (202i) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running from God >> Running from walking in faith >> Running from God through disobedience -- This verse goes with verses 9-11 _________________________________ REVELATION CHAPTER 17 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 17,1-18 (50g) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> First half of the tribulation >> The seals of Satan's wrath >> Mystery Babylon, mother of harlots – In Genesis 3-15 God judged the serpent and said to him, “I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He [Christ, the fruit of woman] shall bruise [crush] you on the head, and you shall bruise him [Christ] on the heel.” When, Rev 13-3 says, “I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast,” we know this as a deception, being all Satan knows. At one time Satan had the entire universe as his inheritance, and he was stripped of it and thrown to the earth, which became his prison. He was confined to the earth and given no authority, until Adam gave his authority to him through disobedience. God has given man authority to do whatever he wants, and if he wants to give his authority to the serpent, he can and he did. God initially judged Lucifer for rebelling in heaven and cast him to the earth, then again in the Garden of Eden and once more on the cross. Jn 16-11 says, "Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged." Accordingly, “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him” (Col 2-15). Now in Revelation we have Satan claiming to have recovered from the effect of the cross, as though he no longer has the curse of Christ over his head, as though his fatal wound was healed. Note, this interpretation doesn't disqualify any theories about him faking his own death and then supposedly rising from the dead in mockery of Jesus actual resurrection. When it says, “The beast that you saw was and is not and will come,” is not is his current status, though he was at one time the great and powerful Lucifer who owned the universe and then lost it to rebellion. He has no power to influence anybody or anything, except that man gave him power through rebellion, and for this reason he is about to emerge from the abyss, though he will not last long, and then return to destruction (hell). When we talk about fallen angels, some of them roam the earth, while others are chained in the abyss, which is a spiritual place reserved for the damned. It is a prison where demonic entities exist, where they are kept from running free and influencing people, until the day set by the Father. Then these entities will be unleashed on mankind in the last days as the fifth and sixth Trumpet Judgments, and so these demons will wreak havoc as they go about destroying man as judgment for martyring the saints. Another interpretation of this is Catholicism, which was once a world power; it is no longer, but it will regain its power over the kings of the earth for a little while and then be destroyed forever. See also: Prostitute; 134k / Heads and horns of the beast; Rev 17,1-5; 245k / God kicked man from the garden; Eph 2,1-3; 166j (134k) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Sins of the body >> Immorality >> Sexual perversion >> Basic immorality – This chapter (seventeen) is a spiritual description of the seals of Satan’s wrath against mankind. The wine contained in the gold chalice in the harlot's hand represents the blood of the saints. The harlot was not alone in her guilt, but needed the participation of “peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues” to accomplish her goal. Everyone had blood on their hands after the whole world slated the Church for extermination. Satan could not have formed a campaign to rid the world of Christians without the people’s support. Her immorality takes the many forms of greed, lust and pride that she practiced. In general, the word “immorality” refers to spiritual harlotry. See also: Prostitute; Rev 17,1-6; 195g / Blood of the saints; Rev 17,1-6; 173f Rev 17,1-8 (19c) Sin >> Mocking God Without a cause >> Motivated by demons -- These verses go with verses 14-18. Catholicism, the Holy Roman Empire and mass genocide of Christians are all tied together in the picture of this woman who sits on many waters. See also: Catholicism; Rev 17,1-7; 160c Rev 17,1-7 (160c) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit body of Christ -- These verses go with verses 15-18. Catholicism is the counterfeit Church. Over the last few centuries the Pope has had no more influence on the world than the queen of England, who herself merely symbolizes English rule, but a time is coming when a man will fill the position of Pope, not one of mere pomp and circumstance but one of world power and absolute dominance over the nations like the position she once enjoyed during the dark ages. See also: Catholicism; Rev 17,1-6; 173f KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 17,1-6 (3j) Responsibility >> To the Family >> God addresses both genders >> Evil women -- These verses go with verses. See: Rev 2,20-24, the woman Jezebel (173f) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Unholy sacrifice (Penance) >> Offering sacrifice without God’s approval >> Sacrifice against the word of God – This golden cup represents the Catholic version of communion, where the bread and wine mysteriously turn into the body and blood of Christ, when an official Catholic priest blesses it. This so-called blessing is a clear case of witchcraft, an incantation. The fact that it requires the blessing of the priest means that the people are beholden to the Catholic Church for their eternal salvation. In fact, the Roman Catholic Church still preaches that all defectors from their religion damn themselves to hell. Actually, the opposite is true; those who take the Mark of the Beast endorse Satan's evil empire and damn themselves to hell. These verses show that there is an indelible connection between the satanic doctrine of transubstantiation and the blood of the saints, suggesting that the spirit behind the doctrine is responsible for shedding the blood of the saints. Mostly in today's Catholic churches the priests withhold the wine from the congregation in fear of spilling it, for they believe it is literally the blood of Christ after the priest blesses it. They allow the congregation only to taste the bread, so the priests rightly drink judgment to themselves and withhold it from the people, meaning that this description of the great whore holding the chalice full of the blood of the saint applies only to the spiritual leaders of the Catholic Church. That is, God charges the clergy for leading the people astray more than the parishioners for believing them. Furthermore, to the degree that the Catholic Church listened to the dragon thousands of years ago and invented the doctrine of transubstantiation, so the leaders of Catholicism will listen to the dragon at the end of the age and martyr the saints. In other words, there is one cause for martyring the saints both in the Dark Ages and in the last days: worshipping and serving demons. God hates the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, because it is tied to the literal manifestation of Satan, instead of manifesting Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist as the Catholic Church has purported all these centuries. They have used this doctrine and others to hold the whole world captive to its tyrannical reign of religious terror. See also: Blood of the saints; 195g / Mark of the beast; Rev 17-2,3; 55j / Hell; Rev 17-7; 183f / Catholicism; Rev 17,1-5; 21m (195g) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Worshipping men >> Worshipping the idol of pleasure – John wondered in curiosity at the beast, and it says that the world wondered about her too, only not the same. They were mystified by her, like looking at Medusa, as one looks into a flickering flame and can't take their eyes off her, turning their hearts to stone. They misinterpreted her as their savior. This is the effect that money has on people. The adulteress woman is depicted in John's vision as being very wealthy, but her wealth actually belonged to the false prophet. Her wealth is not a metaphor to mean something else; on the contrary, she has access to most of the gold that man has mined from the earth since the beginning of time, and John's vision shows the connection between it and the blood of the saints. Satan's kingdom is brought down by conflicting interests between the harlot (the antichrist) and the beast (the false prophet). The harlot’s interest is in being worshipped, which entails murdering those who will not bow their knee to her, corresponding to King Nebuchadnezzar's theatrics from the book of Daniel. Meanwhile, the false prophet’s interests were in becoming unfathomably rich. Tensions grow between these two rivals who have formed a tenuous alliance, and this dysfunction ultimately becomes their downfall. The elementary principles of greed, lust and pride that Satan used against mankind all these millennia will erode his own empire until it crumbles in a heap of ruins. See also: Prostitute; Rev 17,1-5; 21m / Blood of the saints; Rev 17-1,2; 161n Rev 17,1-5 (21m) Sin >> Greed tries to satisfy man’s need for security >> The love of money – When it says, “Mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth,” The primary abomination is the doctrine of transubstantiation, but she had many other abominations that Catholicism invented, suggesting that Catholicism is mother of everything in Christendom that is false. The doctrinal inventions of Catholicism were designed to funnel money into the Church's coffers. Catholicism has corrupted the world since its onset (around 300 A.D.). God has held His anger all these centuries, all the while charging sin to her account, saving it until the end of the age when He releases it in one explosive demonstration of wrath. Note that Catholicism does not acknowledge endtime prophecy, since it is about them and about the wars they fought in God's name for the purpose of amassing wealth to herself (imperialism). God has held His tongue because these are the issues of men. God has given man freedom to do whatever he wants, and so we have a right to fully exercise our will, which is a huge responsibility, and He has determined not to interfere until the end of the age. For God to fix our world would infringe on our God-given right to create the world as we please, which if He interfered would turn us into robots, and He doesn’t want that and neither do we, so He has allowed Catholicism to go on for thousands of years, in that people were being saved throughout the age of grace in spite of the Church. In the early days of Catholicism before the Gutenberg Press, Bibles were rare; then after a period of mass production Bibles became available, but the Catholic Church discouraged its parishioners from reading it, telling the people they wouldn't understand it anyway, but in reality they were afraid the people would catch-on to their deceptions and leave the Church. Nevertheless, what faith people had toward God, albeit skewed by nefarious teachings and practices, God was able to work salvation in those who believed the simple truths they managed to convey, such as that Jesus died for our sins. God is understanding and forgiving, but what He can’t understand or forgive is blatant misuse of spiritual authority, risking and often sacrificing faith (and the faithful) for personal gain. Catholicism’s doctrinal goals have always been to fill their coffers, tie people's salvation to clergy and make the people dependent on the Church. See also: Prostitute; 117i / Catholicism; 245k / History of Catholicism (Persecuting the saints); Jn 16-2,3; 79c (117i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing visions – John wanted to know the identity of this harlot and what she represented, and the angel who accompanied John told him plainly the answers to his questions, yet we have since haggled about what the angel said to him. This is an example of interpreting our visions. We can have a vision well enough but then misinterpret what we have heard and seen from the Lord. This suggests there are multiple layers of a vision. If we get it right it can change our lives in very positive ways, but if we get it wrong in can change us in very negative ways, suggesting also that there is great responsibility and accountability in receiving a vision. The most important thing we must do when receiving a vision is to never handle it with the flesh but with prayer. We must be sure God is involved in every aspect of the vision, in our interpretation and application of it in our lives. See also: Prostitute; 245k (245k) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestation of the devil >> Manifestation of sin – The most popular identification of the harlot is Rome, and there are many reasons this is true. Also, since the harlot is Rome, her religion is Catholicism. While it does say later that the waters “are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues” (v15), there is reason to believe these waters also mean literal water. Italy is a peninsula, meaning that it is surrounded by water, and it says in the next chapter that ships will anchor in harbor and watch the smoke of her torment and mourn over her, who was once a source of great wealth to them. The book of Revelation speaks of a beast, consisting of seven heads and ten horns; it speaks of an antichrist figure and the false prophet, but the angel promised to specifically show John the harlot in this chapter. The beast upon which the harlot sits serves as a basis for the harlot’s glory and power. See also: Prostitute; Rev 17-1,2; 161n / Catholicism; Rev 17-1,2; 161n / Heads and horns of the beast; Rev 17,3-5; 164c Rev 17,1-3 (161g) Carried Away (Key verse) Rev 17-1,2 (161n) Works of the devil >> Satan determines the world's direction >> Carried away by lust – There are a couple things that stand out here. First, the person responsible for martyring the saints is a woman; and second, she is a harlot, not an adulteress. If she were an adulteress, she would be married, and if she were married, her husband would be Christ. Instead, the wording is “harlot”, meaning she is the false bride of Christ and leader of the false church, Catholicism. The woman represents the Pope, not that he is a woman but that he represents the counterfeit the bride of Christ. It says that this counterfeit bride made the kings of the earth commit acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth and were made drunk with the wine of her immorality. This wine is in reference to communion, but instead of wine being in the chalice, the blood of the saints fills the cup. The word immorality is a metaphor to mean idolatry, meaning that the whole world was in agreement with martyring the saints. It wasn’t just the rulers and leaders of nations, but the people themselves who conspired against the saints to exterminate the Church. It is Satan's goal to rid the world of Jews, Christians, the Bible, faith, and whatever else has to do with Israel's God. Satan will use the Pope to do this from Rome, but when his efforts fail, the beast (false prophet) will burn Rome and migrate to Jerusalem and pose as Israel's messiah in effort to obfuscate a growing endtime revival. The antichrist will come in many forms (four to be exact). The last antichrist will enter the temple and display himself as God. A Great Endtime Revival is coming, and Satan will present Himself as Israel's Messiah in effort to quell the revival by offering an alternative, but the Jews will reject him, and when they do, Jesus' word will come to pass in Mat 24,15-22, "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house...." See also: Great Endtime Revival; Rev 17,3-5; 164c / Prostitute; Rev 17,2-6; 159i / Blood of the saints; Rev 17,2-6; 159i / Temple; Rev 17,8-13; 46f / Catholicism; Rev 17,2-6; 159i (164f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >> He is the prince of the power of the air Rev 17-1 (15h) Servant >> Angels have authority >> They have the power to decree an order -- This verse goes with verse 7. Normally the Holy Spirit reveals His word to His people, but angels are often seen in Scripture dispatched to fulfill endtime prophecy. (49g) Judgment >> God judges the world >> Enemies of God’s will are destroyed (189f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Martyr >> Martyrs bring about the judgment of God -- This verse goes with verse 6 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 17,2-6 (159i) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit anointing >> Drunkenness >> Having a party spirit – The harlot's imagery describes a composite of both man and demon. Satan is the dragon, but when he interacts with man, his appearance is that of an immoral woman, a harlot, and the Church is Satan’s primary target for his power of deception and destruction. It says that the woman is drunk with the wine of her immorality, and it turns out this wine refers to the blood of the saints. The harlot commits spiritual immorality, which translated means "Idolatry". The term worldly Christian is an oxymoron, meaning “idolater”. Ezekiel chapter 16 equates this kind of Christian to a harlot, people who claim to believe in Jesus but commit spiritual immorality against God, "Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord God says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them, therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you before them, and they will see you completely naked. And I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and those who shed blood; so I will bring upon you the wrath of your bloodshed and jealousy" (Vs 35-38). Although this refers to faithless Israel, it fits the judgment of the Catholic Church for the centuries of bloodshed and indulgences it has committed in seventeen hundred years (read Revelation chapter 18). See also: Prostitute; Rev 17-2; 162h / Blood of the saints; Rev 17-3; 160a / Catholicism; Rev 17,3-11; 65h Rev 17-2,3 (55j) Paradox >> Opposites >> He carried me away like lust does to show me what lust is – This woman is picturesque of the world military powers, government forces and the counterfeit church all rolled into one, called the beast. She was clothed in purple and scarlet, which are the colors of royalty, indicating that she is queen of the earth. All these forces will focus their wickedness on the true Church who remains faithful to Jesus. The counterfeit church have a single objective to round up Christians in concentration camps for extermination, and the entire world will join the effort and become enemy of those who love and obey Jesus Christ. There won’t be any sympathetic non-Christians who want to live-and-let-live. All who receive the Mark of the Beast will lose their motivation to be kind to Christians. See also: Mark of the beast; Rev 17-2; 162h Rev 17-2 (162h) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Addicted to sin >> Being a slave to the nature of sin – This womanly beast is a man that people have called “antichrist”, ever since John coined the word in his first epistle. Antichrist is defined as anyone who dedicates his life against Christ, and the one named as such hates the God of Israel and her children (gentile believers in Jesus) and receives the Mark of the Beast and are involved in ridding the world of Christians. The fact that she is a harlot means that every Christian straddling the fence, who have never made a genuine commitment to follow Christ will join the harlot by receiving his Mark. There are many Christians today who fit this description, who claim they would never take the Mark, but when that time comes, if they are complacent will side with the antichrist when threatened with starvation and death. See also: Prostitute; Rev 17,3-11; 65h / Mark of the beast; Rev 17,3-8; 185j (168f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world listens to itself >> The world receives itself KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 17,3-11 (65h) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Satan unites the world for the cause of deception – The harlot is Rome, subsequently her religion is the Roman Catholic Church. It says that five nations “have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.” Starting with seven nations and doing the math (7-5-1=1), there is only one country in power at the time of John’s prophecy. However, there is another nation coming ("an eighth"), so that makes two: the antichrist and the false prophet. The seventh nation (Rome) will give rise to an eighth (Jerusalem), and this eighth king will be the antichrist that most concerned John, because he will be responsible for committing mass genocide on a global scale targeting Christians. That will be his undoing, for it will unleash the Trumpets and the Bowls of God’s wrath against his kingdom, putting an end to this age and establishing the thousand-year reign of Christ. This last antichrist will unite Catholicism with Judaism. See also: Prostitute; Rev 17,3-8; 185j / Catholicism; Rev 17-3; 160a Rev 17,3-8 (185j) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Responding with contempt to the Holy Spirit >> Replacing the Holy Spirit – Many people today have a wrong concept of faith, what it means to believe in God. “Faith” and belief are two different things. To believe in God means to obey Him, but “faith” is a spiritual substance that comes from heaven. Jesus said, "The bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world" (Jn 6,33-35). Faith, therefore, is a God-given ability to believe in Jesus, endowing the believer with an anointing to know the truth when he hears it. Believing refers to our behavior, whereas the anointing is a composite of faith and obedience. The title “Christ” is literally translated anointed one, making “Christians” anointed ones. We think only a select people can have an anointing, but we are all expected to carry and maintain an anointing from God, and this anointing is the very essence of faith. It is what the antichrist is trying to kill. Anybody without an anointing from God will join the antichrist in the last days. The anointing is God’s mark on His elect that he places on their foreheads (Rev 7-3; 9-4; 14-1; 22-4), but this is what the Mark of the Beast means: “On her forehead a name was written, a mystery, 'Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth'” (Rev 17-5). Everybody who receives the Mark of the Beast will be endowed with a counterfeit anointing, a disease contracted from the whore as a citizen of her one-world government, centralized in the pseudo-city of Babylon. See also: Prostitute; Rev 17,3-5; 164c / Mark of the beast; Rev 17-3; 105lb Rev 17,3-5 (164c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan rules the world >> The world is his kingdom – The beast consisting of seven heads and ten horns refers to a conglomeration of nations and economic powers. The seven heads represent Rome, the city built on seven hills (see: American Heritage Dictionary: Seven hills of Rome). However, the meaning does not end there; they also represent seven puppet rulers of nations with ten horns; the horns symbolize power. The book of Daniel teaches that these nations are world empires, four that rose and fell in the old covenant: Babylon, Greece and Iraq/Iran (as a pair), known in ancient times as Media and Persia (Daniel 2,35-45; 5,25-30), and four world empires that rose and fell in the new covenant: England, France, Spain and Italy (Daniel chapter 7). These two sets of four nations do not equal 8 but four, the first set being a foreshadow of the second, accounting for four of seven nations that will be involved in the last days empire. The other three are the Goat (United States) and the Ram (Russia/China). The only world empire that spanned both old and new covenants was Rome. It says there is also an eighth, Jerusalem; together these two cities: Rome and Jerusalem are the great whore. The antichrist will start in Rome posing as the Pope to quell a Great Endtime Revival; he will fail, and the beast will set his city on fire. The beast will pull up three horns by the roots and migrate to Jerusalem to pose as Israel's Messiah to stop a Great Endtime Revival that originated there. The Beast is the most vial of all the horns of the beast; he is Satan incarnate. The Bible signifies horns to represent power, making the heads puppet rulers of nations. The horns have power, and use these national officials to interface with the public, spreading propaganda that the horns dictate. The horns prefer to remain in the shadows, covertly ruling humanity. The horns are leaders of a global economy and represent ten world banks that together act as a plutonomy (in power to amass wealth). Going back to the great harlot, she’s filthy rich, suggesting that these horns have given the harlot their power. These ten horns control all the wealth of the world, and the harlot resides in Rome has established her kingdom on this global economic system (the beast), which is the basis of her empire. See also: Great Endtime Revival; Rev 17-3; 162c / Prostitute; Rev 17-3; 160a / Heads and horns of the beast; Rev 17,8-13, 46f / Miss the second coming of Christ; Act 9-22,23; 175f Rev 17-3 (95a) Thy kingdom come >> Perspective >> False perspective in the world (105lb) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit into the wilderness >> Wilderness is the true nature of this world – The angel led John into the wilderness, a place where he could see the beast but the beast could not see him. This is the place where God will lead the Church during the Trumpet judgments. The wilderness depicts the nature of Satan in that both are under God's curse, though the wilderness can also be a place of safety, like a boxer who holds his opponent when he is being out-boxed; he gets too close for his opponent to hit him. The Beast cannot access the Church in the wilderness, since the Mark of the Beast is a computerized system that only works within the parameters of human civilization. Ironically for a beast, the wilderness (off the grid) is beyond the reach of this urban monster, making it a very strange beast indeed, and making the wilderness the safest place during his reign of terror. See also: Mark of the beast; Rev 17-7; 164e (160a) Works of the devil >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit (Body of) Christ – How ironic it is that the Catholic priests drank the wine of communion but did not offer it to their congregation, incriminating themselves in the eyes of God, and singling out themselves for judgment. This has been the case throughout most of Church history. Revelation's imagery teaches that God’s judgment is not directed toward Catholic parishioners per se, since they were not offered the wine in most cases for fear of spillage; rather, the Catholic priests have been drinking judgment to themselves all these centuries. They considered spilling the wine equivalent to spilling the blood of Christ, and so they kept it from the people and offered them only the wafer. Catholicism has not changed since the dark ages when they had near absolute control over the known world; for when it says in verse 18 that the harlot reigns over the kings of the earth, that was the exact relationship Catholicism had with the emperors of nations. See also: Prostitute, Blood of the saints; Rev 17-6; 189f / Catholicism; Rev 17,5-13; 185e (162c) Works of the devil >> Satan determines the world's direction >> (Exception) Carried away by the Holy Spirit – The wilderness the Church will experience in the last days will mirror Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, who was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil at His weakest point for forty days and forty nights (Mat 4-1). His plight occurred immediately after He was baptized, which means that the Church will undergo a baptism of anointing prior to entering the wilderness, a paired revival/persecution. The moment the devil left Jesus, the angels came and ministered to Him, giving Him food and water, because He was too weak to have walked to civilization without help. In the same way the angels will minister to the Church in the wilderness for 3½ years, and at the end of it they will rapture us to heaven. Therefore, the Seals of Satan's wrath reflect Jesus' wilderness experience and the Trumpets reflect His ministry. Jesus’ ministry was an extension of His wilderness experience; although He left the wilderness, the wilderness did not leave Him. So in essence, His wilderness experience lasted 3½ years, throughout His ministry, ending at His crucifixion. Continuing the analogy, His death foretells many martyrs in the last days (v6). Then He rose from the dead, reflecting the First Resurrection that ends the new covenant age and ushers in the Millennium. See also: Great Endtime Revival; Rev 17-7; 164e / Last days (Wilderness) Place of safety and protection; Mat 6,19-21; 7l Rev 17-4 (128n) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Bearing fruit >> Evidence of your fruit >> Bad fruit is proof that God is not working in you KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 17,5-13 (185e) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of lawlessness >> The mystery of sin -- These verses go with verse 16. The woman "was, and is not, and is about to come." What does this mean? Since we have already determined that the woman fits the description of the Catholic Church, which implicates Rome by association, we can see how this phrase "was, and is not, and is about to come" is highly suggestive of the return of the Holy Roman Empire. Catholicism was a world religion for centuries. In the Dark Ages it literally ruled the world, having sunk its talons deep into human consciousness, and then lost most of its affluence once the scientific world began to rise in the 14th century, the Renaissance period, starting in Florence Italy. People lost confidence in the Catholic Church after indisputable scientific findings made it impossible to continue believing in their religious assertions. Whatever science was disproving exponentially inflamed the Church by its claim of infallibility, which served them well for many centuries but has now come to haunt them. It had the effect of pulling attention off the Church and placing it squarely on science, simultaneously exposing the Catholic Church as charlatans with such men as Galileo debunking their claim that the earth was flat and that the sun revolved around the earth (Copernicus). This phrase "was, and is not, and is about to come" is therefore referring to Catholicism returning to world dominance. Catholicism once enslaved the world in its religious web of deceit, and since lost its position as a world power; but at the end of the age it will regain its world dominance for a little while and then go to destruction (v8). See also: Catholicism; Rev 17-6; 189f Rev 17-5 (61g) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> Babylon—Capital city of the abominations of the earth / Home town of the Jezebel spirit Rev 17-6,7 (68j) Authority >> Discernment >> Judging truth and error >> Perceiving a wicked heart – John the revelator made a distinction between the saints and the witnesses of Jesus, referring to the 144,000 including the Two Witnesses. The distinction was made between the Jewish and the gentile Church, though on a spiritual level there is no distinction between them, for all are one in Christ (Gal 3-28). In the last days, however, God will make a distinction between them by calling the Jewish believers to lead the gentiles into salvation and victory over the beast. To do that we need pure doctrines, otherwise we will fall into the devil's trap as we have done over the last 2000 years. God gave the Jews this ministry in the last days, because the gentile Church hardly knows the difference between truth and error. They may know many facts about the Bible, but they don’t know much about the true knowledge of God as delivered to them by the apostles through the Spirit (1Cor 2,10-15). Rev 17-6 (82f) Thy kingdom come >> Three elements of prayer >> Our approach >> Meditation -- This verse goes with verse 8 (144b) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> The Church bears witness of Jesus >> It bears witness of the cross (164j) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is at enmity with God >> The world hates the Church (189f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Martyr >> Martyrs bring about the judgment of God -- This verse goes with verse 1. Most Catholic churches for centuries have only offered the bread to the congregation, reserving the wine for the priests alone. They determined this by their own authority, for Scripture in no way teaches this; rather, Jesus taught that we should consume the wine with the bread. Perhaps they told the people that when the priests drink the wine, its influence disseminates from them to the congregation, making the people beholden to the priests for their spiritual health and well-being, and so the people need to go to church to receive the blessing of the priest. They advise the people not to read their Bibles, being pointless since they wouldn't understand it anyway, and when the Church adds a new mandate or removes an old one, they say it is a revision, and the people just nod their heads and go back to sleep. The great harlot who carries a chalice full of the blood of the saints, representing the wine of communion that the Catholic priests do not share with the people, when she drinks the cup, she drinks judgment to herself, and since the priests do not offer the cup to the parishioners, they have positively identified themselves as the great whore, indicating that God is not angry with the parishioners of Catholicism but its leaders. The spirit of antichrist is already working in the world, preparing to establish a kingdom for the purpose of destroying every person on earth. It has always been Satan's goal to destroy the human race, being the reason he has incited wars and atrocities throughout the ages. See also: Prostitute; Rev 17,8-18; 181k / Blood of the saints; Rev 16,1-7; 189f / Catholicism; Rev 17-7; 164e Rev 17-7 (15h) Servant >> Angels have authority >> They have the power to decree an order -- This verse goes with verse 1 (109e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Revelation of the word of God >> Revelation of the meaning of God’s word (164e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >> Satan’s hierarchy of evil -- This verse goes with verses 12&13. The antichrist is really just a pawn in the hand of these globalists, an amalgam of church and state, similar to Catholicism's reign over the kings of the earth in the dark ages, when certain European nations allied with the Catholic Church to keep the people from revolting against the state's oppressive taxation, working hand-in-hand to enslave the people. In the last days this same tyrannical alliance will return between the religion of antichrist and the New World Order. This alliance will be a manifestation of Satan; and instead of cooperating with each other, she will act treacherously with the beast and desire all the glory for herself, and there will be internal strife between them. The woman (antichrist) represents Babylon, which is Rome, namely the Vatican. She will betray the beast and refuse to share her glory with it. The agreement between the woman and the beast was that she should derail a Great Endtime Revival that began in Jerusalem and spread to the four corners of the earth. See also: Great Endtime Revival; Rev 17,8-18; 181k / Mark of the beast, Catholicism; 183f (183f) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Nursery for the Spirit of error >> Ignorance – In the book of Revelation there are two women: the true Church and the false church. The false church is the return of the Holy Roman Empire as from the Dark Ages. Actually, this woman is a man, but John depicts him as a woman, because he is counterfeiting the true Church, who is the bride of Christ. The antichrist will require everyone to receive a mark that will condemn their souls to the fires of hell. This woman, representing Catholicism, will ride on a scarlet beast, denoting the global economic system, whose leader is the false prophet. He will promise the people that life will soon return to normal as it was before the global economic collapse; meanwhile, the the woman (antichrist) will claim to be the true religion of the world. The Beast will promise that the people will get their life back if they join his economy and receive his Mark, promising that this new economy will be robust and free of all shysters, forgers, and financial tricksters, though the false prophet is the biggest shyster of them all. None of his promises will come true, and the only things that will trickle-down from his empire will be his attitudes and values into every facet of life. He (the beast) will make the people paupers of his New World Order and be taxed into abject poverty, but the woman will betray the Beast and receive the glory to herself, siphoning all his wealth into her own coffers, which will enrage the Beast. In retaliation he will set her city on fire (Vs 16-18). See also: Mark of the beast; Rev 16,1-21; 49h / Hell; Rev 16,1-21; 49h / Catholicism; Rev 17,8-13; 46f KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 17,8-18 (181k) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Deceiving and being deceived – This harlot who sits on the Beast begs the question, where is the False Prophet in this picture? He is the Beast! The False Prophet represents the global monetary system, and the woman, the mother of harlots, is the antichrist. The harlot uses the beast to seek worshippers, and the beast uses the harlot to help establish a one-world religion to help stifle a growing revival of Christianity, but as we see in this depiction their relationship is no more mutual than a horse and its rider. The Beast wants to use the harlot to create a one-world religion and compete with the Great Endtime Revival that is gaining strength, and uses the antichrist as a sort of lattice structure upon which to establish his one-world economy. The harlot was told to channel the world’s wealth back to the Beast, but she refused to share her glory with the Beast and betrayed him for the opportunity to be rich and famous. Satan’s kingdom was entirely built on corruption, and corruption turned on itself. These global monetary leaders give their power and authority to the harlot in order for her to accomplish her objective, which was to amass a world-government/economy/military around her religion. Once she establishes her one-world religion, these economic powers were prepared to rule the nations, using her as a figurehead of their empire, but the harlot betrays the beast and tries to rule the world on her own, cutting the beast out of the deal, like Hitler overriding his generals and made military blunders that caused Germany to lose the war. A rift occurs between the beast and his antichrist that splits the empire, and the whole thing collapses. All these things happen during the seals of Satan’s wrath, and then God’s judgment commences with the Trumpets, followed by the Bowls of His fierce wrath. No wonder Jesus said these were the worst times in human history. See also: Great Endtime Revival; Rev 17-11; 38j / Prostitute; Rev 17,10-18; 3j Rev 17,8-13 (46f) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Fall of Satan >> Resisting Satan’s deception – This is a depiction of Satan being self-destructive, and for this reason Satan is incapable of accomplishing anything; whatever he attempts to do will undo him. We know that the antichrist will set up shop in the Vatican, and we also know that Jesus and the apostle Paul taught that the man of lawlessness will enter the Jewish old covenant temple and display himself as God, but he will not do this as the Pope because the unbelieving Jews have rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah, and the Pope represents Him. Therefore, we have two antichrists, one in Rome and one in Jerusalem, only not at the same time. Remember that in Daniel chapter seven it says there will be an 11th horn that will come from one of the ten (Vs 7,8), uprooting three horns in the process, and in this chapter (v11) it says, “the beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth, and he is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.” Therefore, the 8th head of Revelation is the antichrist, and the 11th horn of Daniel is the false prophet. See also: Temple; Rev 17,10-18; 3j / Catholicism; Rev 17,1-8; 19c / Heads and horns of the beast; Rev 17-11; 38j Rev 17-8 (38j) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Resurrection of the wicked -- This verse goes with verse 11 (47d) Judgment >> God Jud ges the world >> Hell is a place of destruction (60f) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> The beast whose fatal wound was healed / Catholicism once controlled the world, doesn't now but will again – This beast whose fatal wound was healed means Satan and his minions are a reflection of man's sinful nature. These are demonic entities that people are serving, giving them their heart’s desire as it pertains to wickedness and evil, but people don’t know these demonic forces hate them. This so-called friend of man, Satan and his cohort of demons, are on a mission to destroy mankind, because man has received a covenant from God that includes coming into possession of the entire creation, which was once Lucifer’s inheritance. What is more, man has been invited to sit with God on His throne, which was never offered Lucifer; in fact, Satan was seeking the throne of God in his rebellion. Satan is always happy to oblige man’s lust for evil and rebellion against God, because it works to liberate him. When man cries for demonic assurance, rather than divine deliverance, it unleashes powers of wickedness against himself, which will ultimately destroy him. God would defend man against his demonic enemies, except that man is in agreement with them, and for this reason they are martyring the saints, showing that man prefers Satan over God; and so God will allow these demonic entities to mall the human race, being the fifth and sixth Trumpet Judgments of Revelation chapter 9, which are extremely severe. God will release satanic forces of malevolence against mankind that was unknown to him until then. The sinful nature of man is incomprehensible even to himself; that is why Paul called it the mystery of lawlessness (2The 2-7), and it will forever remain a mystery why man prefers demonic entities that destroy him to God's love. See also: Satan is self-destructive; Rev 17-14; 112b (82f) Thy kingdom come >> Three elements of prayer >> Our approach >> Meditation -- This verse goes with verse 6 (219hh) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> The elect >> God chooses us as we choose ourselves >> The Lamb's book of life (220a) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> Predestination >> Predestined before the foundation of the world KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 17,10-18 (3j) Responsibility >> To the Family >> God addresses both genders >> Evil women -- These verses go with verses 1-6. The book of Revelation paints a fascinating picture of the beast playing second fiddle to the Harlot. Although she is part of him, the beast resents the harlot and destroys her, thus destroying himself, illustrating Satan's self-destructive nature, like the demon-possessed man of Gerasene in Mark 5,1-5. The antichrist will arise and deceive the nations about his identity and take his seat in the Jewish temple and deceive the unbelieving Jewish community and gentiles throughout the world, because of their lack of knowledge of the Bible. In verse 18 it says that the beast rules the great city that claims to be the center of the world, referring to Rome; actually, Jerusalem is the center of the world, suggesting that she will destroy Rome and then migrate to Jerusalem, where the war of Armageddon occurs outside the city. The war of Armageddon models after the sacrifices that were burned outside the camp, as it is written, "the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate" (Heb 13-11,12), so to fit the model, people will be burned outside the city. The antichrist Rev 17,10-12 (215e) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God views time in eternity >> God sees eras as moments Rev 17-11 (38j) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Resurrection of the wicked -- This verse goes with verse 8. Dan 7-7,8 speaks of an 11th horn as John speaks of an 8th head. Both of these entities are not technically counted with the beast, in that they betray their respective alliances to become an entity in themselves. The beast and the false prophet depict the antichrist’s forged death and resurrection as a means of remaking himself in the process of changing hats from Pope to Israel's false messiah. He then migrates to Jerusalem for the purpose of stifling the Great Endtime Revival, led by the Two Witnesses and the 144,000, whose ministry to the nations started in Jerusalem. See also: Great Endtime Revival; Rev 17-1,2; 161n / Heads and horns of the beast; Rev 17-12,13; 164e Rev 17-12,13 (164e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >> Satan’s hierarchy of evil -- These verses go with verses 16-18. These ten horns in Revelation are also the ten horns of Daniel’s dream in chapter seven. They were never depicted as kings until now. They do not have a kingdom but have authority as kings, suggesting they are puppet rulers, the global economic system, and those in charge of it are waiting to be appointed kings by the false prophet, whose message is financial prosperity, which never comes. See also: Heads and horns of the beast; Rev 17,1-18; 50f Rev 17-13 (131k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Working together for one cause -- This verse goes with verse 17 (213h) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> We are his instruments >> We are clay in the potters hand -- This verse goes with verse 17 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 17,14-18 (19c) Sin >> Mocking God Without a cause >> Motivated by demons -- These verses go with verses 1-8 (48n) Judgment >> Jesus’ enemies are destroyed >> Enemies of His glory Rev 17-14 (39ja) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Jesus defeated this world system >> Jesus defeated people who serve Satan (66a) Authority >> Lordship of Christ >> He is Lord over all creation >> over life and death (91i) Thy kingdom come >> The called >> God’s calling transcends the will of man >> We are called by God through His choice of us (102m) Thy kingdom come >> Faithfulness (Loyalty) >> Loyalty is unswerving (112b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Light >> Jesus’ light overcomes darkness >> The light of His power – The kingdom of antichrist will wage war against the Lamb of God; it doesn’t say he will wage war against the Lion of Judah. Jesus is considered both a lamb and a lion, which are opposites in that the lamb is prey to the lion. This suggests that Christ will not directly fight against the Kingdom of antichrist; rather, He will just sit back and let Satan destroy himself. He won’t need to lift a finger, though John reminds us that Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings. God believes in Himself and lives by the principle that righteousness and truth always win in the end and that defeating evil is a mere waiting game; given time wickedness will destroy itself. God has sown this principle into the fabric of His creation that if it should rebel against Him, it becomes evil and will eventually bury itself in its own grave. Those who are with Him are the called, chosen and faithful, who live by the same principles as their Lord, in that they too wait-out sin instead of seeking revenge and becoming guilty with the wicked. No, they use the fruits of the Spirit to judge their enemies, such as long-suffering and patience. See also: Satan is self-destructive; Rev 17,15-18; 160c / Satan is the absence of light; Mat 17-2; 245c (206i) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to doing the works of Jesus (219h) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> The elect >> God chooses us as we choose ourselves >> God chooses us through our faithfulness (245i) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Manifestation of God’s righteous judgment >> Manifestation of Jesus’ victory over sin Rev 17,15-18 (160c) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit body of Christ -- These verses go with verses 1-7. There is a false unity that belongs to Satan, and it is based on corruption, and for this reason it easily breaks down when the smallest pressure is applied to him. The devil lacks character to stand and fight, because he doesn't believe in anything; instead, all his tenacity is based on unbelief. Before Satan became the antichrist he was constantly fighting against the Church's unity; but when it was his turn to establish unity, he found it impossible. The one who is spiritual can see through counterfeit unity and knows that its existence signifies the activity of Satan in a congregation and high tails it to a safe environment where unity is based on faith and love. When Satan counterfeits unity, he replaces the principles that make for peace and the building up of one another (Rom 14-19) with his own principles, which are opposite of God, and for this reason false unity is destined to fail. The devil cannot get along with himself, much less with anybody else, and so he repels genuine unity. In the last days the antichrist will turn against himself; the dragon, the false prophet and his minions will all turn against each other, because they are incapable of working together. They care only for themselves and know nothing about sacrifice for a common cause. See also: Satan is self-destructive; Rev 17-16,17; 46i / Unity; Mat 12-30; 50db Rev 17-15 (240e) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Natural disadvantage >> Beware when all men speak well of you >> Natural disadvantage of seeking popularity – It says that the harlot is riding a beast that is floating on water, giving the impression of a sea serpent, leviathan as it were (Rev 13-1), suggesting that the antichrist is the product of a sea of people that rose to become a leader of nations, adopting the philosophies of the devil. Satan once ruled man as Prince of the Power of the Air, but he was removed from his place and thrown to the earth (Rev 12,7-9). Now he rules mankind through the agency of human flesh, and it doesn’t go very well. See also: Prostitute; Rev 17-16,17; 46i KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 17,16-18 (65i) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Satan Glorifies God (164e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >> Satan’s hierarchy of evil -- These verses go with verse 7 Rev 17-16,17 (24d) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Pursuit of happiness creates anxiety (24h) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Being envious of your brother (46i) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Satan falls by his own wickedness – These two verses are the culmination of the entire word of God, opening our eyes to Scripture from Genesis to Revelation and helping us see God's spiritual enemy in a whole new light. The statement we can derive from this passage is that Satan is self-destructive. Satan will attack himself and destroy his own empire, like an infectious disease that causes the body’s immune system to attack itself. It says that the ten horns, referring to the beast, will hate the harlot and make her desolate. That is like one body part attacking another, like the demoniac in Mk 5-5, “Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.” The various entities of Satan’s kingdom do not cooperate with each other, showing the fact that he has been dividing the Church for centuries through the attributes of his own nature, suggesting that he cannot have a kingdom of his own without dividing and destroying it. Satan only knows competition, and once he defeats his enemies, he will turn on himself. It is a spiritual law written into his very nature; he can't help but destroy himself. The kingdoms of this world and even nature are ruled by these principles. See also: Prostitute; Rev 16-1; 115e / Satan is self-destructive; 158f (62o) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Righteous deception >> God deceives the world (158f) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Divide and conquer >> Division (Cliques) >> Jealously seeking prominence in the body – The very thing that God is trying to show Satan (and us) is that if he were given a kingdom, it would not stand, because he would destroy it with his own hands. God has been showing His people (and Satan) since the original sin that the Kingdom of God will last forever because it is based on seeking the last place instead of the first, and caring about others more than ourselves. By this one principle the Kingdom of God will stand the test of eternity, but Satan’s kingdom will never be established, just like Hitler failed to establish his dominance over the world using the devil's principles of the greatest being greatest and the least being least. God has given us World Wars I&II plus an insane dictator to show us the veritable sequence of endtime prophecy that will replicate itself based on the principle of "Me First". People will follow the antichrist without qualm, because the kingdoms of this world operate by the principles of Satan they understand and agree with his mindset. Man who fails to remember his past is doomed to repeat it, and history repeats itself because of various principles that are at work within the human genome that pushes man into war with himself and destruction of every kingdom he has built, until the final war transpires and God is able to demonstrate to his creation that the ways of God are the only ways that work. See also: Satan is self-destructive; Rev 17,10-18; 3j (240h) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Natural disadvantage >> Natural disadvantage of the world Rev 17-16 (25b) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Hate evil with hate (104c) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Purified by fire >> Purified through fiery judgment (146c) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Demon possession >> Human state >> Their behavior >> Masochism (185e) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of lawlessness >> The mystery of sin -- This verse goes with verses 5-13 (190b) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Masochism (Self-made martyr) >> Taking your sinful nature by force (245ll) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Manifestations of the devil >> Manifestation of the spirit of murder KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 17-17 (40j) Judgment >> Judgment of Christ >> God’s word judges the devil (65c) Paradox >> Anomalies >> God helps Satan >> God unites Satan’s efforts to make war with Jesus (131k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Working together for one cause -- This verse goes with verse 13 (213h) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> We are his instruments >> We are clay in the potters hand -- This verse goes with verse 13 (217l) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> You cannot control the judgment of God >> You cannot control how God responds to sin See next page