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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then I heard another voice from Heaven, saying,
“Come out, my people! Come out from her! You must not take part in her sins; you must not share in her punishment! For her sins are piled up as high as Heaven, and God remembers her wicked ways.”
“Treat her exactly as she has treated you; pay her back double for all she has done. Fill her cup with a drink twice as strong as the drink she prepared for you. Give her as much suffering and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. For she keeps telling herself: ‘Here I sit, a queen! I am no widow, I will never know grief’”
“Because of this, in one day she will be struck with plagues—disease, grief, and famine.
And she will be burned with fire, because the Lord God, who judges her, is mighty.”
Revelation 18:4-8 GNT
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
At the end of Revelation, chapter 17, we find one of the two evil entities, the Mother of Prostitutes, come to a brutal end. The scriptures tell us she was maliciously attacked by the great, scarlet beast (aka the antichrist) and ten kings who were aligned with him. Together, the stripped her naked and ate her flesh before burning her with fire (Vv. 16-17).
The female personification of the world’s wickedness held a cup full of abominations and adulteries, and was drunk on the blood of the number of Christian believers she had killed. Such was her malice that a voice from Heaven heralded her death in the first three verses of chapter 18, an announcement that preceded a second proclamation, one for the people of the world in regard to how they related to the blatant sinfulness of the prostitute. Look again at those words here:
Then I heard another voice from Heaven, saying,
“Come out, my people! Come out from her! You must not take part in her sins; you must not share in her punishment! For her sins are piled up as high as Heaven, and God remembers her wicked ways.”
“Treat her exactly as she has treated you; pay her back double for all she has done. Fill her cup with a drink twice as strong as the drink she prepared for you. Give her as much suffering and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. For she keeps telling herself: ‘Here I sit, a queen! I am no widow, I will never know grief’”
“Because of this, in one day she will be struck with plagues—disease, grief, and famine. And she will be burned with fire, because the Lord God, who judges her, is mighty.”
As she rose to power, this mother of whores, also referred to as Babylon the Great, led many into the sin she lavished herself in. They had once supported and helped her rise to prominence but now that she had experienced the fullest measure of God’s mighty judgment (Revelation 17:17 tells us that it was God who initiated her execution), the call was to abandon her along with the iniquities that defined who she was. The people, people who God identified as His own, were to “come out” of the mother of all prostitutes and “not take part in her sins” or else they might “share in her punishment”. God knew about “her wicked ways”, her “sins” that were “piled up as high as Heaven”, and showed how He could easily eliminate her and anyone who chooses to prescribe to her ways.
And so the call was to disassociate and oppose anyone who chose to live in such depraved and immoral ways, to serve as instruments and weapons of righteousness who could be used by God to pay back evildoers double in punishment and cause sufferings twice as strong as the ones the prostitute had doled out.
In the end translation, as it has been since the fall, people could choose one of two sides to pledge their allegiance: to the devil and any of his sidekicks such as the mother of prostitutes and the antichrist, or to God, the Maker and Master of Heaven and earth. Walking the way of Satan would lead someone straight to the eternal depths of Hell. Conversely, following the way and will of God, which included embracing His gift of salvation through Jesus His Son, would result in everlasting life in Heaven.
Which path have you chosen to travel in your life?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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