Posted on 12/31/2014 8:27:36 AM PST by Salvation
Well, the chapter says it is more than influential, it says that the whore “rules over the kings of the earth”.
Yes, it says the great whore is a city but it also tells us that she sits on many waters,
And it tells us that she sits on a beast with seven heads and ten horns, that could mean that she is supported by the beast up until the eighth beast and the ten horns appear.
Rev 17
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
The mountains are not literal mountains they are kingdoms.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
So it can not be a literal city.
I believe that excludes Jerusalem or any other literal city.
Pray against our enemy, the devil. Pray alone, with others of like faith, with those of other faiths, but pray! It is time to stop focusing on our differences and zoom in on our commonality: we are God's children, made in His Image and likeness, and we are thus brethren!
May God bless all of us who seek Him with a loving heart, and may He grant us the grace to unite in prayer for the whole human race! A blessed new year to everyone! Pray without ceasing!
Thanks for that wonderful link.
How beautiful... God bless you!
Thank you. You are welcome.
I will take exception to this description - Babylon, according to the Prophets, is destroyed in a single hour, like Sodom and Gomorrah, and that it will never be inhabited, nor will the shepherd keep his flock there, and etc. But Babylon was not destroyed - It kinda petered out over centuries - In fact, it was still there during the second Temple period, and was a mainstay of Jewish thought... And during the Gulf war, shepherd were using it as a sheepfold...
Call me a literalist, but I do not think that YHWH is done with Babylon.
Somewhere I read that Revelation talks about 2 Babylons: a “political” Babylon, most likely a city, a capital of an empire, and a “religious” Babylon, a one-world religion that smooths out the path for Anti Christ to take over the world. I don’t remember all the details, but that would explain why some of the descriptions of Babylon, like you say, cannot refer to a city while in other parts it is clearly referring to one. I just moved and all my books are still packed, so I am writing from memory (not my best asset, lol).
And what a beautiful piece it is! It touched me so much that I posted a link to it in my FB page. I have moved a couple hundred miles away from my home church, so I use FB to stay in contact and, in a way, to continue teaching my Sunday school class (I friended all my students). We will be praying for repentance, like another poster said, both personal and national repentance!
Somewhere I read that Revelation talks about 2 Babylons: a “political” Babylon, most likely a city, a capital of an empire, and a “religious” Babylon,
BTTT!
“Rev 17
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
The mountains are not literal mountains they are kingdoms.”
This verse is explaining the symbolism of prior verses. It makes no sense to explain a symbol with another symbol that is left unexplained. So the mountains must be mountains, and not kingdoms. In the same way, when we are told the whore is a city, that is explaining the previous symbol used, so the city can’t be just another symbol.
Revelation is filled with symbols, but thankfully, God explained quite plainly what many of those symbols represent. Just because you don’t like the explanation doesn’t mean that it God didn’t make it perfectly clear. “The whore is a city” means just that, “the whore is a city”. If God had meant to say “the whore is a city, but the city is something else”, He would have just said that.
“15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
So it can not be a literal city.”
Any city that is a capitol of an empire would clearly fit that description, as the nature of an empire is to rule over diverse peoples and nations, from a central location.
Christ’s words at the Last Supper.
You do believe Christ’s words, don’t you? They’re in the Gospels.
I believe Christ's words, I just don't believe you...There's not a bible on the face of the earth that says wine turns into Christ's blood...
Any city that is a capitol of an empire would clearly fit that description, as the nature of an empire is to rule over diverse peoples and nations, from a central location.
“there are many different interpretations”
True, but I think only one of them will turn out to be correct.
Yes, I see what you mean. The prophecies in the OT on Babylon may well be speaking of this “Babylon the Great” in Revelation, and not the ancient city.
However, since the identification of “Babylon the Great” seems so clear, I think we would have to conclude all the prophecies were about the city that Revelation identifies, in order to have a consistent interpretation. If Babylon is being used symbolically or allegorically, then I think it will consistently represent the same thing.
True, but I think only one of them will turn out to be correct.
If you are correct in the sense that it is a literal city which I admit that you could be, it fits Rome much more now and the last several hundred years than it would ever fit Jerusalem.
This is especially so if my understanding of the blood of the saints having to do with communion.
Remember it is called mystery Babylon for a reason, it is not the usual thing.
“...it fits Rome much more now and the last several hundred years than it would ever fit Jerusalem.”
Well, Rome did not kill the prophets. Rome isn’t the city identified as “the great city”. God never promised to pour out the cup of his vengeance on Rome. God never called Rome an adulterous harlot. The antichrist doesn’t set up the abomination of desolation in Rome. The armies of the world do not plunder Rome, treading it underfoot for 42 months. Christ does not land on a mountaintop at Rome upon his return.
However, there is one city that all those things are true of, and all the prophecies of the last days also focus on that city.
However, there is one city that all those things are true of, and all the prophecies of the last days also focus on that city.
Yes, it’s still a mystery to many.
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