Showing posts with label Revelation 18. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Revelation 18. Show all posts

Friday, February 11, 2011

Revelation 18:24

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Revelation 18:24

24 And [kai] in [en] her [autos] was found [heurisko] the blood [haima] of prophets, [prophetes] and [kai] of saints, [hagios] and [kai] of all [pas] that were slain [sphazo] upon [epi] the earth. [ge] KJV-Interlinear

24 "And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth." NASB

Three categories of peoples are identified here. The prophets, is a reference to the instructors of scripture.  The saints, is a reference to all believers throughout history.  And all that were slain, is a reference to everyone else.

Death is a direct result of Babylon.  Babylon is the descriptive term for the philosophical, religious and secular invention of Satan.  Therefore, Satan is the father of the cause, and result, of all death.

Were there no Satan, there would have been no death.  But of course that is not how history has played out.

The destruction of the systems of belief, that have led to all of the suffering, turmoil, and death in the world and in history, is a good thing.  That is why the residents of heaven will cheer when Babylon is finally put down for good.

This is all still future, but its certainty is guaranteed.  Whenever anyone rejects, is indifferent or defiant towards doctrine, then they are in effect a co-conspirator in the destruction of life and creation.

There is no innocent middle ground.  There is no such thing as an action that does not affect others. There is no such thing as making something ok, just because it does not affect others.  There is no such thing as a victimless crime or activity.

Every thought, every action, every motivation, every intent has a result, no matter how menial, no matter how insignificant.  And although there may not be obvious repercussions at any point in life, the end result of all of history’s activity is going to culminate in the Tribulation and in the destructions we have just been studying.

Evil is going to self destruct at its own hand.  Any alignment with evil will take you along with it.

And although neither you nor I will live to see these things (assuming that you are already a believer in Christ), that does not relieve you of your daily spiritual obligations and responsibilities, now.

God has a plan for your life.  That plan extends into eternity and is not limited to just this life.  The quality of your life in the future, fully depends on your attitude toward Christ, and how you approach your spiritual life now.  Your daily study of the scriptures will determine your ultimate outcome in the future, just as the daily indifference toward truth now by folks, will determine the ultimate outcome and destruction of evil at the end of the Tribulation.

The future is set in writing and will not be changed, and you cannot change it.  But you can change your life now, such that you will not be a part of that future destruction, nor even contribute to it.  And you do that by sticking with your daily studies, by maintaining an obedience to God in the mandates that He has set out in the scriptures, and by growing up in your spiritual life.

Prepare yourself now, for a phenomenal life in eternity.  What lies ahead for a spiritually dysfunctional world is not going to be a pretty sight.  In fact the disaster that awaits the world is far worse that any written description possible or even imaginable.  It is something that you would not want your family or even your friends to be a part of.

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Thursday, February 10, 2011

Revelation 18:23

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Revelation 18:23

23 And [kai] the light [phos] of a candle [luchnos] shall shine [phaino] no more [ou me] at all [eti] in [en] thee; [soi] and [kai] the voice [phone] of the bridegroom [numphios] and [kai] of the bride [numphe] shall be heard [akouo] no more [ou me] at all [eti] in [en] thee: [soi] for [hoti] thy [sou] merchants [emporos] were [en] the great men [megistanes] of the earth; [ge] for [hoti] by [en] thy [sou] sorceries [pharmakeia] were [planao] all [pas] nations [ethnos] deceived. [planao] KJV-Interlinear

23 and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. NASB

Babylon will be so thoroughly destroyed that it will never, ever rise again, Isa 13:19-22; 14:22-23; Jer 50:13,39; 51:37.

The ‘you’ in this passage, refers to Babylon, the total plan of Satan and man.

It will be lights out, and even social interactions between men and women will come to a halt.

The merchants of Babylon, is a reference to all of those who will have promoted its philosophies and practices.  And they will account for all of the great men of the world.  All of those who have had a hand in commanding the world, its politics, its business, its celebrityship.

And, the same being completely deceived by the lies, of all that Babylon stands for.

But in society, there are no innocents.  People are deceived because they want the benefits of the lustful offerings of the world – the free ride, the something for nothing promises.  People are deceived because they want the power or wealth or control offered by the lustful opportunities of the world.

People are deceived because they reject or ignore or are indifferent toward truth, in preference for the lies of the world.  And, they make a conscious decision to pursue lies rather than truth.

One of the many problems with any Bible study, is that people always assume that the information being taught, is in reference to someone else, and never themselves.  And so we look around the world and see everyone pointing fingers at everyone else, everyone virtually ignoring Christ and truth, everyone believing that they are right and everyone else is wrong.

With truth excluded, then people will naturally trend toward the philosophies and beliefs that Satan has laid out, ie., socialism vs. freedom, alternate lifestyles vs. traditional marriage and family relationships, compromised principles vs. integrity, politics vs. statesmanship.

And in the end, the entirety of society will cease to function, being the last thing to fail in history.

And the failure lies not with that last generation who will populate the world in the Tribulation, it will be the spiritual failure of the generations that lead up to that last generation.

So, look around yourself, and look in the mirror, and then prepare for the last verse of this chapter, which is the most significant verse of them all.

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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Revelation 18:22

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Revelation 18:22

22 And [kai] the voice [phone] of harpers, [kitharodos] and [kai] musicians, [mousikos] and [kai] of pipers, [auletes] and [kai] trumpeters, [salpistes] shall be heard [akouo] no more [ou me] at all [eti] in [en] thee; [soi] and [kai] no [ou me] [pas] craftsman, [technites] of whatsoever [pas] craft [techne] he be, shall be found [heurisko] any more [eti] in [en] thee; [soi] and [kai] the sound [phone] of a millstone [mulos] shall be heard [akouo] no more [ou me] at all [eti] in [en] thee; [soi] KJV-Interlinear

22 "And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer; and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer; NASB

Babylon is the symbolism of the all inclusive program of Satan’s plan.  It includes a religion that bows down to worship himself, a political philosophy of Satan’s choosing, an economic program run by the select few making decisions for all, and even entertainment of his choosing for the benefit of all, in Satan’s view.

Note that Satan’s approach is an imitation of Gods plan, but with major differences.  Satan cannot do what God can do, and Satan excludes truth from his plan, and Satan excludes everyone's free participation in his plan, and Satan’s plan is based on lies, deceits, and false promises.

And when the plan fails, it not only fails horribly as we have already seen, leaving virtually every aspect of life destitute and dysfunctional, but it brings virtually everything in life to a dead stop.

Can you even begin to imagine an entire world that ceases to function in every aspect of life?

And so the fallout of what is going to occur when people ignore their spiritual lives, is going to include the cessation of entertainment, the cessation of all innovation, the cessation of all manufacturing.

When this occurs, and as it begins to occur, across the seven year period of the Tribulation, and accelerates its disaster in the latter years, then life on planet earth will be beyond miserable.  People will be broke, starving, full of fear such as the world has never experienced fear before, and angry over their helplessness.

You can only begin to (perhaps) imagine what daily life will be like under those conditions.

Of all of the stories and scenarios of end of the world movies and such, none have ever captured the real and horrible state of life, and death, that will actually exist in those future days.

But that is not all …

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Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Revelation 18:21

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Revelation 18:21

21 And [kai] a [heis] mighty [ischuros] angel [aggelos] took up [airo] a stone [lithos] like [hos] a great [megas] millstone, [mulos] and [kai] cast [ballo] it into [eis] the sea, [thalassa] saying, [lego] Thus [houto] with violence [hormema] shall [ballo] that great [megas] city [polis] Babylon [Babulon] be thrown down, [ballo] and [kai] shall be found [heurisko] no more [ou me] at all. [eti] KJV-Interlinear

21 And a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "Thus will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer. NASB

Millstones are big round stones that may be about six feet (two meters) in diameter and perhaps a foot or more thick.  A foot is about a third of a meter.  They are extremely heavy stones and used to roll over grain and crush it into flour.

A great millstone is a millstone that is greater than the norm, and therefore much larger than people are used to seeing or using.

The angel took a great millstone and tossed it into the sea, to symbolize the downfall of Babylon.

When someone throws a large rock into the water, it creates a huge splash, and then sinks almost immediately to the bottom.  And there it remains.

That is the meaning of this symbolic act of the angel.

With great violence and permanency, Babylon is going to be destroyed and thus removed not only from the world, but also from permanently out of sight, forever.

Babylon is Satan’s plans.  Babylon is mans plans.  Babylon is all of the combined plans of evil, of which all run contrary to Gods plan and design.

Interestingly, the other day I mentioned the liberal thinking of society in our world today, and some folks got insulted over my simple words. Why will we not be surprised when all of these ideas overtake the world and then fall on their own swords (so to speak).  Almost like it was written and meant to be.  How would anyone get that idea?  The idea of the worlds self destruction from its own thinking and plans.

And imagine if folks get perturbed over a few word now, then how much worse will things be in the future.

For over 6000 years the Lord has controlled history, and despite all of the evil that has existed during all of that time, Christ has managed to perpetuate life.

But in less that seven years, Satan and man will have their way, and they will all but destroy humanity to the point of near extinction.  That is the big splash, and the sunken ship of carnal thinking, and it will go down not in peace, but in a huge splash of violence, and then sink to the bottom of the ocean (symbolically), never to be heard from again.

When the Tribulation ends, and when the Millennium begins, Satan’s plans and mans plans will not be a part of that Millennial reign of Christ.  He and He alone will rule and peace and prosperity, and no war, and no disease  will be present, and none of the usual political and public policies that we have now, will be present.

And as we will see shortly, all of life’s even normal activities, as it has existed under mans rule, will cease.

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Friday, February 4, 2011

Revelation 18:20

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Revelation 18:20

20 Rejoice [euphraino] over [epi] her, [autos] thou heaven, [ouranos] and [kai] ye holy [hagios] apostles [apostolos] and [kai] prophets; [prophetes] for [hoti] God [theos] hath avenged [krima] [krino] you [humon] on [ek] her. [autos] KJV-Interlinear

20 "Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her." NASB

A contrast arises between those unbelievers on the earth who are crying over the loss of their worldly systems of evil, and believers in heaven who are cheering its destruction.

Too often liberal thinking detests the cheering of the failure of someone or something, and that detesting attitude is usually hypocrisy as evil consistently cheers over the failure or defeat of good in all forms.

Biblically speaking, liberal thinking refers to all attempts to add to or modify truth in an attempt to achieve a better truth, which is of course a lie, and evil.

However, the angel who began this series of announcements, now addresses the believers in heaven, from within the structure of Johns vision, and announces or leads the cheer for the defeat of evil.  And that cheer is appropriate.

Evil has been destroying life, freedom, liberty and so forth since the fall of Adam.

Evil is the policy of Satan in his attempt to defeat God, and good.  He would prefer to see everything destroyed in order to bring victory to himself at the expense of God and believers.  That alone would end up destroying everything, including Satan himself.

But smart as he is, he does not believe that he is the instrument of his own destruction, if he did win the war between good and evil.

Satan’s evil policies include an opposite principle of evil, for every principle of good contained with truth.

For example, freedom of mans volition is replaced by slavery or control of someone by someone else.  Marriage is replaced with alternate lifestyles.  Family is substituted with various divorce arrangements or failure in marriage.  Free enterprise is replaced with the various ism’s in government and politics.  Privacy and ownership and patriotism and so forth are all replaced with alternative views opposing authority and divine institutions.

And on and on the examples continue, for every point of truth there is a counter-point promoting lies.

Babylon is the epitome of total opposition toward truth and the quintessence of failure as a result.

Evil destroys life and freedoms and therefore its destruction is a blessing and something to cheer about.  Anyone who promotes evil should fail in their efforts, because their success destroys life and opportunity for all.

God has a plan that will enable everyone to be a winner.  Evil promotes a plan implying victory, but where in fact, nobody wins

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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Revelation 18:19

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Revelation 18:19

19 And [kai] they cast [ballo] dust [choos] on [epi] their [autos] heads, [kephale] and [kai] cried, [krazo] weeping [klaio] and [kai] wailing, [pentheo] saying, [lego] Alas, [ouai] alas, [ouai] that great [megas] city, [polis] wherein [en] [hos] were made rich [plouteo] all [pas] that had [echo] ships [ploion] in [en] the sea [thalassa] by reason of [ek] her [autos] costliness [timiotes]! for [hoti] in one [mia] hour [hora] is she made desolate. [eremoo]KJV-Interlinear

19 "And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, 'Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!' NASB

Throwing dust on ones head is an expression of extreme grief, Josh 7:6; 1 Sam 4:12; 2 Sam 1:2; 15:32; Job 2:12; Lam 2:10; Ezek 27:30.

Weeping and mourning are the expressions of the souls of the general population.  Nothing is mentioned of repentance toward God.  Only grief over the loss of business and worldly wealth, that has come out of the policies of Satan, namely Babylon, which is the expression of worldliness, among other things which we have studied.

The sins are great, the arrogance is great, the lusts are great.  They all stack up as high as heaven, as was mentioned earlier.  And these things of wickedness amount to the worst in all of human history.

And yet people do not see their flaws, but they do see the wealth they have.  They do not see the masses who suffered so that the few can possess their wealth.  They do not see the errors of their ways, in any form, even as the world around them is collapsing.

And they too, even mention that the great system by which they lived, was gone in an unusually short space of time.

How can anything so great, disappear so quickly?  How can anything so stable, destabilize so quickly?  How can anything so undefeatable, be defeated so quickly?  How can anything so productive, become so unproductive so quickly?

And the answer is of course that these characteristics are all false.  Satan’s systems are empty, lacking substance, lacking truth, and therefore consist of nothing.

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Revelation 18:18

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Revelation 18:18

18 And [kai] cried [krazo] when they saw [horao] the smoke [kapnos] of her [autos] burning, [purosis] saying, [lego] What [tis] city is like [homoios] unto this great [megas] city [polis]! KJV-Interlinear

18 and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying,' What city is like the great city?' NASB

The entire world is collapsing all around them, and what do people think of?

‘What city is like this city?’

And in order to put this into some perspective, consider some of these other sayings.

What is like the great pyramid?
What is like the great ocean?
What is like the great mountain?
Who is like the great Zeus?
Who is like the great wind god?
Who is like the great beast, Rev 13:4?
Who is able to wage war with him?

And so the object of their worship, the object of their priorities, the one on whom they placed their faith and trust, is destroyed seemingly in an hour.  Fallen, destroyed, put to shame virtually overnight.

The mighty plan of anti-christ, the one who sat on the white horse, the champion of the people, the one who was going to bring utopia, riches, prosperity, happiness to all, is gone in less than seven years.

Jesus Christ controls history.  Through nearly seven thousand years thus far, Christ has perpetuated human history through wars, disasters, disease, floods, and on and on, and humanity has thrived with growing populations continually.  And, He was not even present in person, as a leader, during all of those thousands of years.

And now, when Satan has his chance, has his champion the anti-christ, the entire world collapses in less than seven years.  That is your one hour, that is your overnight failure, that is the total failure of evil.

Documented verbally since the time of Adam, documented in detailed writing since the time when John wrote these words, documented throughout history and throughout the entire lives of every individual who has ever lived, documented through the up and down trends of human history.

And yet, most folks ignore their spiritual life, ignore God, ignore Christ, ignore doctrine, advance through their life, and end up with nothing, just as all of Satan’s plans will end up.  Supporting nothing and gaining nothing.

When all a person has to do, is spend perhaps five minutes a day, reading and studying the scriptures, learning something for life, and ending up with blessings that exceed all imagination.

And yet most folks work and hustle and run through life chasing after happiness and catching nothing.  And in the end of history, the end of the world will be the most horrific time in all of human history. 

And still, people will look to the things of the world, rather than to Christ.

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Revelation 18:17

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Revelation 18:17

17 For [hoti] in one [mia] hour [hora] so great [tosoutos] riches [ploutos] is come to nought. [eremoo] And [kai] every [pas] shipmaster, [kubernetes] and [kai] all [pas] the company [homilos] in [epi] ships, [ploion] and [kai] sailors, [nautes] and [kai] as many as [hosos] trade [ergazomai] by sea, [thalassa] stood [histemi] afar [makrothen] off, [apo] KJV-Interlinear

17 for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!' And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance, NASB

And the last groups addressed are identified here as those who haul freight and passengers.

Back in Johns day, ships were a mode of public transportation, but mostly they hauled freight over long distances.

And here, the phrase is repeated, ‘one hour,’ referring to the fall of Babylon, referring to the fall of all commerce, for that is the subject of this chapter, commerce.  And more specifically the commerce policies that were invented by Satan, long ago, and placed into public action by humanity over the course of human history culminating with the policies finalized in the Tribulation.

We have already seen how the oceans will die, during the Tribulation, and here is the reference to shipping by means of the sea that will die along with the oceans.  But this is more than just the ocean going vessel activity, it is a reference to all transportation and all freight shipping.

And the people employed by freight companies, and the people who travel by any means, will all look on as the economy of the world collapses all around them.

They are not looking at a specific city, or at a specific thing.  They are looking at the world in general, at life all around them in their local setting wherever they live.  The entire world will collapse and all business and trade, and manufacturing and transportation and so forth, will come to a halt.

Just as the policies of the anti-christ will try to prevent Christians and Jews and everyone from engaging in commerce unless they bow down to him, so then God will prevent all commerce for anyone and everyone who does bow down to the anti-christ.

But as the anti-christ takes proactive action in bringing about his policies of control, God on the other hand will stand back and let those same anti-christ policies destroy themselves.

In trying to control life, the wicked of the world will bring about their own destruction.  And, all that they will be able to do is stand back in total helplessness and watch life fall apart.  And, it will fall apart rapidly, very rapidly.

Beginning immediately after the Rapture, the world will begin a slow disintegration process, which will grow rapidly in speed until the last year of the Tribulation, when the entire worlds systems of activities will totally collapse.

And as we have already seen, the entire world, hopeless, helpless, starving and terrified, will begin the process of blaming one another, and violence will rise on scales that no one could possibly imagine.

Remember the seven thunders from our earlier study.  They were so terrible that they could not be mentioned or revealed in the scriptures.  Well, this scenario is probably the reflection and result of the terrible atrocities and events that those thunders address, with billions of people around the world struggling to hold on to life and things.

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Monday, January 31, 2011

Revelation 18:16

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Revelation 18:16

16 And [kai] saying, [lego] Alas, [ouai] alas, [ouai] that great [megas] city, [polis] that was clothed in [periballo] fine linen, [bussinos] and [kai] purple, [porphurous] and [kai] scarlet, [kokkinos] and [kai] decked [chrusoo] with [en] gold, [chrusos] and [kai] precious [timios] stones, [lithos] and [kai] pearls [margarites]! KJV-Interlinear

16 saying,' Woe, woe, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls; NASB

The weeping and mourning are not for Babylon, but for themselves.  The merchants, the consumers, the leadership, all people great and small, will be thinking only of themselves, of their loss, of the way things were, but are now no more.

But their idea of the way things were is a short memory version of how things were (how they wanted things to be for their own benefit) during the reign of the anti-christ, earlier on, but lacking the reality of how things really were as the economies of the world declined.

Babylon is described from their perspective.  They see the outer presentation of Babylon.  Earlier the bible described the inner Babylon.

The outer is clothed in all manner of enticements and things of beauty and desirable.

The inner is the working of the prostitute, and totally corrupt.

The outer is made up of things that people strive for, fine clothes, jewelry, expressions of riches and wealth.  And from those things, the idea of security and happiness.

But surrounded by those things, is an inner soul of corruption.  You can wrap fine things around a rotten piece of meat, but they will not keep it fresh nor make it fresh.  The rot continues and eventually even the wrappings fall to the ground.

In contrast, Bible doctrine, a thing which you cannot see, but is manifested in words and thought, is able to accomplish everything that the world cannot accomplish.

Doctrine can make pure that which was impure, can make secure that which was insecure, can make wealthy that which was poor, can make fulfilling that which was empty.

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