evil and suffering
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And the background of course is the worship of those national gods (beast worship). The businessmen (merchants) of the earth have grown rich from the wealth and luxury; and this seems to be the basic lure of this society.
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(Revelation 17:15-18) Verses 15 through 18 of Revelation chapter 17 is a very specific prophecy about the disunity of the forces of evil, and the certainty of the fulfillment of God’s promises to His persecuted people. Here the ‘waters’ are interpreted as being multitudes peoples over whom she rules. And the ‘wild beast’ has ‘ten…
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(cf. Revelation 17:7-14) Now, “And the angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. He’s going to describe the woman what he describes as the wild beast. Now, notice what…
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When it says, “MOTHER OF HARLOTS”, that implies to me there’s not just one historical focus, but many. Although Rome is the obvious immediate background, there are other backgrounds.
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Chapters 17 to 20 of the book of Revelation depict the mighty triumph of God over evil. Even from the opening pages of John’s book God’s sovereignty is invariably emphasized, and this has considerably been a great comfort for the hurting believers of the first century Christianity. Evil may seem to appear strong but, it…
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(cf. Rev. 16:17-21) Notice if you would that there was thundering and lightning in the great city. Several times the book of Revelation seems to refer to the great city, to Rome. Some refer it to Jerusalem, based on chapter 11:8. But even there i think it’s really an allusion to the place of judgement…
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“The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun,…” (Rev. 16:8-16) this is very much like the fourth trumpet back in chapter 8:12, and a lot like the sixth seal back in chapter 6:12. “…and it was given to it to scorch men with fire.” – this reminds us that God is in control…
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O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.
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…but notice in verse 2, it’s only on unbelievers and not on the believers. That’s exactly like the plagues of Egypt and were very discriminative.
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(Rev. 15:5-8) Verse 5, “After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of testimony …” – this sanctuary has appeared in chapter 11:19, now we see the ‘tent of the testimony’ that goes back to the tabernacle. We see it many times in the Old Testament, and one allusion in the New Testament…