November 10 Be Faithful

Revelation 17:1-5 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.” 3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5 This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
 
THE word “prostitute” here and in many other scriptures refers not to a particular sin. It instead points to a nation’s or several nations’ rejection of God’s rule. For example, see God’s word to Jerusalem rejecting him: Isaiah 1:21 See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her – but now murderers!  And Ezekiel 16:15 “'But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his.” Jerusalem became a prostitute as the Jews rejected God’s rule. How does this happen?
    We see how. One of the seven angels who was delivering God’s wrath to earth stopped to show to John the “great prostitute’s” penalty. Notice she is sitting on a red beast. The prostitute is with the devil.  Those with Satan are not with God. What city or nation is this? Here are two answers.
    First, John’s contemporaries would easily identify Rome as the prostitute. Her dominion was essentially the known world of that day. Its citizens worshiped many gods. Vicious emperors targeted Christians for brutal persecutions. AS “Babylon” was to the Jews a name of evil, Rome clearly was the Babylon of John’s day. The city and the empire was a prostitute against God.
    Second, as Revelation is a prophecy, it is necessary to question, “Does the church sit with Satan to become a prostitute?” WE know that many false teachers have led God’s church – his kingdom city – away from God. History records portions of Jesus’ church living in Satan’s ways. Sometimes, too, our complacency about God’s truth opens the door to reject God’s rule. Self-interests and gratification can work quietly to separate the church from is Lord.
    We must, then, as the individual church and as the church universal, continually examine ourselves to determine if we are rejecting or worshiping God. We do not want to be as Jerusalem, the prostitute of old, nor as Rome and other cities throughout time.
    With proper examination, we will surely discover apostasy to some degree. To avoid God’s wrath our only response is to repent. Jerusalem did not repent. Babylon and then Rome were God’s tools to judge his prostitute city with various conquests. God then destroyed Babylon. No trace remains today. And he reduced Rome to a weak, confused city. God will judge and destroy those who prostitute his Word.
    This is the angel’s message to John and Jesus’ church. I pray we are listening.
 
Prayer: Open our hearts to seek, savor and speak your Word, O God. Reveal our sins that we may repent and be saved. Amen.