“Revelation 17:14-18”

Monday, January 15, 2018

“‘These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.’ And he said to me, ‘The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

---End of Scripture verses---

The dragon was bent on destroying the Lamb from the very start (Revelation 12:4). But, since there was nothing in the Lord (John 14:30) by which Satan could defeat Him or stop His glorious plan of salvation from coming to fruition through His death, burial and resurrection; the adversary has thrown all his forces behind the destruction of those who “are the called and chosen and faithful” (verse 14). The kings of the earth had been summoned by the power of the dragon to make war against the Lamb and His elect (Revelation 16:4), and their soul purpose is to “give their power and authority to the beast” for the furtherance of his objectives (verse 14). But, the decisive statement and primary theme of the entire book of Revelation is, “the Lamb will overcome them.”

All of God’s children can take ultimate confidence and comfort in the fact that they serve the “Lord of lords and King of kings,” who cannot be defeated or dethroned. Jesus Christ reigns as Supreme Ruler over all the kings of the earth, sharing the equal nature and holding the very title of God Almighty (Deuteronomy 10:17; Daniel 2:47; 1 Timothy 6:15). Not only shall He emerge triumphant in His war against evil and corruption, but all of His “faithful” followers will share in the eternal triumph. God has “called” us to do battle at His side against the forces of wickedness through the invitation of the Gospel of His Son (2 Thessalonians 2:14), and we all can be a part of the “chosen” few (Matthew 22:14; Ephesians 1:4) if we answer the Gospel call and do not harden our hearts against the will of the one who calls us.

Homer Hailey wrote in regards to verses 15-16: “Though she was introduced as ‘sitting upon many waters’ (v. 1), when John saw the harlot she was sitting upon the scarlet-colored beast (v. 3). The angel next explains that the many waters represent the empire and the many ethnic groups and nationalities over which Rome held sway (cf. 5:9; 13:7). A major weakness of Rome was its inability to amalgamate the diverse peoples into one. Rome could conquer and control by force, but it had no cohesive power with which to cement the conquered into a homogenous kingdom. This weakness had been revealed in a dream to Nebuchadnezzar, when he saw the fourth great empire to come, the Roman, as ‘part iron and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken…and they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay’ (Dan. 2:42f.)…

“The ten horns—the future kings or kingdoms which would arise—that would join themselves to the world power…would hate the harlot. Love among men or nations has often turned to hatred as intense as the affection it replaced. This change would result in the destruction of the harlot; she would be made desolate, stripped of her grandeur and wealth, her flesh eaten and consumed, and her remains destroyed by burning with fire. This is an example of evil’s self-destruction. The principle of love being corrupted to lust and turning to hate, which in turn destroys, can be illustrated by nations today. As long as nations can get what they want from one another, they continue to commit economic and political fornication. But actually, nations and states hate all government, which is being destroyed by greed and lust. And so it is with individuals. First, allured by the world, they commit fornication with her. Then, realizing their delusion, they hate what they have done, but too late—they are irrevocably lost and destroyed.”

Please read Revelation 18:1-3 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

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