Year 2, Week 52, Day 3 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 52, Day 3

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Revelation 15-17.

Today’s reading consists of three more chapters of Revelation. The Book of Revelation, which was written by the Apostle John to seven churches, serves as an unveiling from Jesus Christ about Jesus Christ as it pertains to matters concerning the end of time. Revelation reveals the plans and purposes of the Lord Jesus Christ with a view toward encouraging suffering and struggling believers to persevere. Revelation 6-16 depicts, primarily through a series of seals, trumpets, and bowls, the unleashing of God’s judgment, while also displaying the Lord’s preservation of His people. Revelation 15 introduces the seven angels who will unleash the seven bowls of judgment: “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished” (Revelation 15:1). Revelation 16 records the seven bowls of judgment that the angels unleash: “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God” (Revelation 16:1). Revelation 17 transition the next few chapters, as it expands the details of the seventh bowl of judgment unleashed upon the city of Babylon: “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters…And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations” (Revelation 17:1,5).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the wrath poured out on the city of Babylon: “The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”…The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath” (Revelation 16:17-19). As the last bowl empties, the outpouring of the Lord’s judgment upon humanity is complete. Babylon, which symbolizes earthly rulers and nations, is depicted as a unfaithful woman: “And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality” (Revelation 17:3-4). The imagery of Revelation 17 mirrors what will be found in Revelation as the imagery of another woman is depicted: “Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God” (Revelation 21:9-10). The contrast is between two cities—Babylon and Jerusalem—and between two women—the foul harlot and the pure bride. The outcome of the two cities/women is very stark.

John is revealing that the ruling powers of this world are symbolized as a harlot, that is, an institutional commitment to spiritual adultery against God. The whole world owes allegiance and faithfulness to God. The whole world should relate to God as a wife does to a husband, in pure devotion. But the world has forgotten God, betrayed Him, and sold herself to anyone who will make an offer. The world is a harlot, and every human government that does not honor Christ is prostituting itself to agendas and worldviews and national interests that are idolatrous, but also disastrous. And in her prostitution, she intoxicates herself on seeking the harm of God’s people: “And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Revelation 17:6). John explains what will become of the harlot, who seeks to wage war against the Lord: “They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful” (Revelation 17:14). Once again the Lamb will prove victorious. The harlot’s destruction will begin with its own self-destruction: “And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire” (Revelation 17:16). The beast will turn on the harlot; and the Lord will carry out His plans for their destruction through their turning on each other: “for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:17-18). God is woking out His will in and through the hearts of the wicked, even though they oppose His will. However, God’s plans will be carried out; God’s Word will be fulfilled. God’s people can trust in the Lord, who will preserve them.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe