Today’s reading is Revelation 17:1-18:24.

Two things struck me in today’s reading. First, there is the whore of Babylon. In Revelation 17:3, John was carried away in the Spirit and “I saw a woman…” I can’t help but remember the last woman he saw in Revelation 12:1, “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun…” The first woman was attacked by a dragon. The second woman sat on a beast. The first woman was pregnant and giving birth. The second woman was sexually immoral. I can’t help but notice how Satan’s side tries to copy and mirror God’s work.

Then again, I noticed the beast described as “it was and is not and is to come” (Revelation 17:8). Who does that remind you of? Alive, dead, and alive again? What a mockery. Of course, the difference is Jesus arose never to die again. The beast arose to go into destruction. Again, I can’t help but notice how Satan strives to copy and mirror God’s work.

Therein lies the warning. Satan doesn’t offer something completely different from God. In fact, it will often look very much like what God offers. The devil, as they say, is in the details. Those few differences that Satan offers lead to destruction. Satan will offer mediocre copies of God’s great blessings, but Satan’s copies will not provide God’s blessings. Satan’s copies lead to destruction. Just ask the whore of Babylon and the beast on which she rode. Neither of them got the great life they had been expecting.

Take care. Follow God’s truth, not Satan’s lies.

***Question: What do you do to stay in God’s truth and not be diverted by Satan’s lies?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Revelation 15:1-16:21.

I’m sure you get tired of me saying, “I don’t know how many times I’ve read ___________, but today I saw something I hadn’t noticed before.” Yet, that is why we keep reading the New Testament. It doesn’t matter how many times we’ve read it, there is still more. In fact, if I hadn’t read it the first time, I probably wouldn’t have seen what I did the second. If I hadn’t read it the second time, I probably wouldn’t have seen what I did the third. And so on.

Today, Revelation 15:2 caught my attention. It says, “And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire–and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.”

Did you catch that? John sees those who “had conquered.” Not “will conquer,” “are conquering,” or even “may conquer.” Those who had conquered the beast, its image, and the number of its name. These folks had already won the battle.

Yet, the next few chapters deal with God’s plagues on the beast, its image, and those who wear the number of its name. The beast isn’t defeated until Revelation 19:20-21. How can we see those who “had conquered” the beast?

The problem is so many are trained to read Revelation as if it a timeline. We start with the events closest to the New Testament in the first few chapters and then we progress on to the end of the world. But that is just not the case. This book is not meant to be a prophetic timeline. This book is a series of apocalyptic visions that make the same point over and over and over again. The visions themselves are not timelines. They are pictures making a point. The point over and over again is simply this. 

God wins. God’s people win.

Therefore, we shouldn’t be surprised to see a picture of the saints victorious over the beast in Revelation 15:2 but see another picture of the beasts demise in Revelation 19:20-21.

I know for many this concept is a complete paradigm shift for reading Revelation. However, please remember that John was writing this book to help Christians with the distress they were facing. He wasn’t writing something that showed what would happen in some far-off, future distress. They didn’t need to know what might happen thousands of years later, they needed to know that they were going to win back when this book was written. Therefore, over and again, John shows visions of judgments on the beast.

Remember always–God wins!

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

As I’ve pointed out throughout all of this blogging on Revelation, the tough part is each chapter, each image has the same message: Sometimes it looks like God is losing, but in the end God wins. Revelation 17-18 is no exception. “Babylon” makes war on God and His people. But in the end, the harlot is judged. Her own kings turn on her and she is left desolate and naked. The angels rejoice over her demise. Her kings wail and moan in torment. She is defeated and Jesus Christ is victorious.

However, in this picture, one phrase caught my attention. 

“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, 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.”–Revelation 17:16-17

Until the words of God are fulfilled.

While these two verses are talking about the judgment of the harlot, this judgment is still coming about through the beast and his kings. Even as the beast and his kings work against God, they are only accomplishing what God wants. That is how powerful our God is.

But what really gets me is that while the beast and his kings are working, God is still in control. The point of Revelation is not that the enemy has some power and God can’t seem to get it under control but don’t worry He is more powerful so He’ll eventually get it together and overcome. No. The point is that God is always in control. The only reason the beast and his kings accomplish anything is because God allows it. 

I certainly don’t have the wisdom or infinite insight to know exactly why God allows that to happen. I’m sure it is for our testing and our perfecting. I have no doubt it is to prepare us for whatever He has planned for us in eternity. But the comfort for me is not in knowing why God does this, it is simply in knowing that God is still in control. When the beast and his kings are making headway, it is not because of their power. It is because of God’s. Therefore, I can be assured that before the story is over, God will win.

I need to be on His side no matter what.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC