Archive for month: June, 2020

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Revelation 19:1-10.  Let’s go!

Revelation 19:1-4 (NIV) 
1  After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 
2  for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” 
3  And again they shouted: “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.” 
4  The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: “Amen, Hallelujah!”

On verses 1-4:  Earlier in Revelation 17-18 we read of Babylon, a prostitute who according to many commentators symbolizes the spirit of false religion that is all about man thinking he can reach God on his own effort.  In Revelation 17, Babylon’s fall is predicted.  In Revelation 18, we read of how the kings and merchants who dealt with Babylon will mourn after her death.  Now in Revelation 19 we hear heaven’s response to Babylon’s fall. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Revelation 17:1-18.  Let’s go!

Revelation 17:1-2 (NIV) 
1  One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. 
2  With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.” 

On verses 1-2:  The key to properly interpreting the book of Revelation is correctly identifying the characters that appear in the book.  Who is “the great prostitute, who sits on many waters” (v1), who committed adultery with the kings of the earth and intoxicated earth’s inhabitants with her adulteries (v2)?  Many commentators believe that this great prostitute represents false religion.  What false religion are we talking about?  In this sharing, I will use the term “false religion” to mean every system of belief in the world that preaches that man by his own effort can reach God or become his own God.  The great prostitute of false religion has affected people all over the world for millennia.  It gives people a false hope and a false comfort that can be fairly described as “adultery” (v2a), for it involves running away from depending on God to save us by the means of His Son Jesus and running into the arms of a false religious system that is all about one’s own effort and exalting oneself.  The comfort of this false religion is like the false comfort of being “intoxicated” (v2b) in that the comfort is fleeting and does not last. 
 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Revelation 16:1-21.  Let’s go!

Revelation 16:1-7 (NIV) 
1  Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” 
2  The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. 
3  The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died. 
4  The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
5  Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; 
6  for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.” 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Revelation 14:14-15:8.  Let’s go!

Revelation 14:14-20 (NIV) 
14  I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man” with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
15  Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 
16  So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. 
17  Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 
18  Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 
19  The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 
20  They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.