Revelation 19: Praise!

Today’s reading is Revelation 19.

PATHS of Righteousness

We’ve had a lot of intense study of Revelation for 18 weeks now. Because of the depth and point of the apocalypse, we have not taken an opportunity to use a week to follow our simple PATHS of righteousness in our devotional posts. I hope you’ve seen the reminder of those meditations at the end of each post.

This week, however, the chapter really aligns nicely with walking these PATHS as our means of growing through Revelation 19. So, today, we’ll talk about what prompts or improves my Praise of God from Revelation 19.

Hallelujah!

Praise the Lord! Praise Yah(weh)!

The word “Hallelujah” is found four times in the entire New Testament. All four of those occurrences happen right here in this chapter. That being the case, how could this chapter not prompt or improve our praise of God?

Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.

Babylon, the great city/prostitute, corrupted the earth with immorality and the blood of saints. Like Abel of old, the blood of saints cried out from the ground against her. The Lord listened. Though He gave Babylon time to repent, she refused to heed. She continued in blasphemy, immorality, and murder. Finally, the Lord had no choice but to judge. He brought on Babylon’s head her own sins. The Lord did what was right. His people were delivered. His enemies judged.

Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.

Like Sodom and Gomorrah of old, the Lord heard the outcry against her. He came to see and found the report true. He brought judgment. Let us not look back with longing on Babylon as Lot’s wife did. Let us praise God for His deliverance from Babylon.

And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”

Amen! Hallelujah!

So let it it be. Truly. Verily. So it must be. Praise the Lord! The multitudes cry out their Hallelujahs and the elders and creatures chime in with agreement. Amen! They cry. And they praise as well.

Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure.

The Bride is prepared. The Prostitute is removed. The Hero King marries His Bride. The moment the entire book has been waiting for has come. The wedding feast of the Lamb. We ourselves look forward to such a day. We can praise God in prospect of our own invitation to the feast.

Praise the Lord!!!

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 19.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 19 prompt or improve your praise of God?

Revelation 18: The Sin of Babylon

Today’s reading is Revelation 18.

An Ancient Sin

We’ve already considered the immorality and covetousness of Babylon, however, the apocalypse provides a bigger picture basis for these specific sins. Before delving into Revelation 18, let us see how this picture was anchored in the Hebrew prophets of old.

Isaiah told of the coming judgment on Judah by the Chaldeans, that is, the Babylonians. However, he also gave hope to the Judeans explaining they would be restored and Babylon would in turn be judged. In Isaiah 47, God provides a picture of that judgment. See if the following selections sound familiar.

Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans…Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms. I was angry with my people; I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand; you showed them no mercy; on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy. You said, “I shall be mistress forever,” so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end. Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children”: These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments (ESV)

Though Babylon had been a virgin daughter chosen by God to accomplish His work, she had become an adulteress mistress to the kingdoms. Rather than learning from God’s judgment on Judah’s arrogance, she grew in her own arrogance. Rather than remembering she was merely the instrument of God, she decided she was alone in her work. Rather than realizing judgment could come upon her, she determined she would remain forever and would never suffer. But God said for all this arrogance and self-glorification, she would be judged in a single day.

What was the great sin? She glorified herself above God. And, in essence, wasn’t that the very first sin? Like Eve, Babylon took upon herself the glory of deciding the way instead of simply listening to God’s instruction. And in so doing, Babylon became the type for any city, kingdom, society that glorifies itself above God. No wonder, Jesus used Babylon as His symbolic name for the city trying to lure the saints out of Christ’s kingdom.

Babylon Repeats Her Sin

In Revelation 18, John hears the voice of the one from heaven cry out once again against Babylon. She is to be paid back double for her sins because…

As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, “I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see” (Revelation 18:7, ESV).

Though the same words are not used, similar concepts are found in other passages giving insight to the sin here.

First, consider what James 5:1-6 explains about the wealthy who had defied God. They did not live in luxury and self-indulgence in a vacuum. Their luxury and self-indulgence was on the backs of others from whom they withheld rightful wages. They fattened their hearts in a day of slaughter and condemned and murdered the righteous. James says their accumulated treasure would eat their flesh like fire. Sounds similar to what happened to the Babylon the Great back in Revelation 17:16, doesn’t it?

Second, in Ezekiel 16:44-52, God compared Judah’s sins to that of Sodom’s. He said this regarding Sodom: “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it” (ESV). Once again, Sodom did not live in luxury and ease in a vacuum. Her sense of entitlement came from pride and haughtiness, that is, self-glorification. This prompted her to turn a blind eye to those in need.

Third, and perhaps a bit more directly to the point, recall the discipline brought upon Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4. The insanity came upon him because of his pride and self-glorification when he took sole credit for the might and success of Babylon in Daniel 4:30. However, don’t miss what Daniel had advised Nebuchadnezzar following the dream: “Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity” (Daniel 4:27, ESV). Nebuchadnezzar’s prosperity led him to pride and entitlement causing him to oppress others instead of showing mercy.

All this together gives us insight to Revelation 18:7. She would receive a “like measure of torment and mourning,” because her living in luxury was not accomplished in a vacuum either. She lived in luxury by tormenting others and causing mourning. In puffed up pride, she thought she would never be called to account for her unrighteousness, covetousness, idolatry, immorality, self-indulgence, oppression. She told a story of bringing peace on earth and overlooked the realities of the oppression, impoverishing, enslaving, murder she perpetrated to allow for her luxurious living. But God said He would remember the truth and bring double retribution for all she had done.

Let Us not Take Part in Babylon’s Sin

When James wrote “to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion” (James 1:1, ESV), he was shocked they would show partiality to the wealthy around them. His point was not that anyone and everyone who is wealthy must have sinned, but the wealthy around his readers were the ones who oppressed the Christians and blasphemed the name of Jesus (James 2:5-7). The wealthy among and around James’s readers gained their wealth by taking advantage of the poor and especially of these poor Jewish disciples of Jesus (James 5:1-6). Yet, the dispersed Jewish saints felt the allure of social equity that came with bringing the wealthy into their midst. If the church could gain members with financial capital, no doubt they could, by gaining the accompanying social capital, avoid some of the persecution and tribulation that came from being the afflicted and oppressed. In other words, they were tempted to avoid the oppression and persecution by compromising with their oppressors rather than by trusting God to care for them and bring justice.

This exact same dynamic is at least one aspect of John’s apocalyptic correspondence with the seven churches in Asia. In order to avoid persecution and tribulation, in order to make it easier to make a living and put food on the table, some of the churches and Christians were compromising and partnering with Babylon. Though she had oppressed them, murdered them, enslaved them, and blasphemed the name of their God, they saw the allure of the financial and social capital she promised. They hoped to maintain a foot in the Lord’s temple city while also planting a foot in Babylon.

When disciples compromise like this, they do not help God accomplish His plan of kingdom growth. Rather, they take part in the self-glorified entitlement and arrogant covetousness of Babylon. They actually destroy God’s kingdom from the inside out. Yet, they seem to think they can get away with it. They think because they are in Christ, they cannot or will not be judged no matter what they do, but this is the same self-glorifying arrogance of the prostitute Babylon. If Revelation tells us anything, it tells us if we partner with Babylon, we will be judged with and as Babylon. Let us not become guilty of her sins. Let us not get caught up in her judgment. Let us come out from her and be the pure Bride of Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 18.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 18 prompt or improve your trust in God?

Revelation 18: Come Out of Her, My People

Today’s reading is Revelation 18.

Remember John’s Audience

In Revelation 18:4, John reminds us of his audience. He isn’t writing to Babylon. He isn’t writing to “Babylonians.” He is writing to “my people.” Remember Revelation 1:4: “John to the seven churches that are in Asia” (ESV). While Revelation can and should be used to encourage “Babylonians” to repent, it was written first and foremost to get the Christians who were compromising with Babylon to repent.

Certainly, for those who had been faithful to the Lord, the message is to hang on and hold fast. But for those who had begun to mix and match the idolatry of their surrounding cities with their worship of the one, true God, like Pergamum and Thyatira, the call was to repent. But remember what we learned in yesterday’s post about Revelation 18:3c. Those who were going to church on Sunday but living like the culture around them the rest of the week, as in Laodicea, also needed to repent. These Christians needed to “come out of her,” to come out of Babylon, or they would experience her plagues.

An Ancient Charge

The Hebrew prophets repeatedly made this exact same plea. We see similar charges in Isaiah 48:20; 52:11; and Jeremiah 50:8, 28; 51:45. The passage in which we find some clear background for John’s statement in Revelation 18:4 is in Jeremiah 51:6-8a:

Flee from the midst of Babylon; let every one save his life! Be not cut off in her punishment, for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance, the repayment he is rendering her. Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, making all the earth drunken; the nation drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad. Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! (ESV)

The Christians in the seven churches should not cozy up to Babylon, compromise with Babylon, mimic Babylon, or mirror Babylon. They needed to flee Babylon. If they did not, they would end up taking part in the sins of Babylon and then get caught up in the judgment on Babylon.

But They Couldn’t Actually Leave Babylon

This charge is not about geography. When the Hebrew prophets charged the ancient Israelites to flee Babylon, they could head back to Jerusalem and Judea. However, John was not telling the first century disciples to geographically leave Babylon. If Babylon represents Jerusalem, the recipients weren’t in Jerusalem to be able to leave it. If Babylon represents Rome, they weren’t in the city of Rome either. But where would they go to get away from the Empire of Rome? This isn’t about geography.

While we may find ourselves today in a situation where a geographical change will provide us freedom from the cultural sins around us, our global community makes that less and less of an option. Rather, we need to think in the same terms as presented in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1. We must not partner in the sins of our society. We must not partner with the false cultural religion. We must live life differently. We must “cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion” (ESV).

As Paul implied in 1 Corinthians 5:9-10, we can’t go out of the world. But we can, by God’s strength and power, strive to get the world out of us. We can be different from the world. We can be different no matter how the world will respond. Further, we can work to keep the world’s influence and the “wisdom” of demons (see 1 Timothy 4:1; James 3:14-15) out of our churches. We must work to accomplish this. If we turn a blind eye, Jesus says we will get caught up in Babylon’s judgment. However, if we repent and flee Babylon’s seduction the same way Joseph fled the seduction of Potiphar’s wife, we will be saved from the plagues and the judgment. Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 18.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 18 admonish you?

Revelation 18: Kings and Merchants

Today’s reading is Revelation 18.

Some Background Reading

In Revelation 18, John hears an angel with great authority, a disembodied voice from heaven, and an angel who tossed a stone into the sea. As with a great deal of Revelation, the messages of these speakers are anchored in the ancient Hebrew prophets. For background on Revelation 18, I encourage you to read Isaiah 13-14; 46-47; Jeremiah 50-51; and Ezekiel 26-28. The first three are about ancient Babylon. Though the fourth is about Tyre, Revelation 18 clearly borrows a great deal from that oracle.

Babylon is Fallen

In Revelation 14:8, one of the three angel messengers cried out:

Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality (ESV).

The nations drank from the wine of the passion or anger/wrath of her sexual immorality. Therefore, in Revelation 16, they had to drink the wine of God’s anger over the sexual immorality.

Now, in Revelation 18:2-3, another angel expands that previous message. Babylon’s fall means she is no longer a protected, peopled city. Rather, she is a haunt for every unclean thing: demons, spirits, birds, beasts. For more on this concept see Isaiah 13:21-22; 34:11-15; Jeremiah 50:39; 51:37, 43.

The point I want to focus on however comes in the second part of this new angel’s expansion:

For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living (Revelation 18:3, ESV).

Kings and Merchants

There are two major aspects of this expanded declaration. The first of which I’ve always seen, the second I’ve often overlooked.

First, the kings of the earth have committed immorality with Babylon the Great, the Prostitute who sits on the seven-headed monster (the dragon’s spawn) and on the seven mountains. No doubt, as we consider how “sexual immorality” is used among the prophets, the point is the kings of the earth followed the great city in idolatry. Rather than responding as Isaiah 2:2-5 declared they should, going to the single mountain of the LORD and submitting to the God of Jacob, they followed the folly of the great Prostitute. They worshiped idols, demons, false gods.

Second, “the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” I admit, this is the one that frightens me. I think I’m pretty good at avoiding idolatry. That is, I’m pretty good at avoiding going in to idols’ temples, setting up shrines, getting involved in imperial cults.

However, this second part is a contrast back to something said when the False Prophet sealed the worshipers of the beast and the dragon. In Revelation 13:16-17, John recorded that the mark of the beast allowed folks to buy and sell. In other words, the great hook the evil trinity uses to win allegiance from the inhabitants of the world is quite simply making a living. Those who take the mark of the beast are able to conduct business, earn a wage, gain commissions, put food on the table. And now in Revelation 18:3, we discover the earth’s merchants have used that mark to its full extent. They have grown rich by playing the Prostitute’s game.

This wouldn’t quite scare me so much if we didn’t have the oracle to Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22. Here was a church whose defense that she must be faithful was, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.” She didn’t realize she was “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” Jesus described her as lukewarm. That is, He described her as having been affected by her environment. Rather than standing out as distinct and affecting the environment around her, she had achieved room temperature. She was supposed to be the bride of Christ, but she had become much more like the Prostitute. And she didn’t even know it.

Can we admit we live in a society and even in a “Christian culture” that thinks if we are doing well financially, we must be doing something right? “God is blessing my socks off” usually means I’ve got a good job, I’m making good money, I have decent savings, I’m looking forward to a nice retirement. We bank on a handful of proverbs, gloss over Jesus’s own statements about wealth and poverty, and are certain God is blessing us because financial “blessings” feel so much like real blessing. It did to the Laodicean Christians.

Obviously, the mere act of making a living and providing for our families is no sin. In fact, we know shirking that responsibility is the sin: “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8, ESV). How easy it is to take this charge in Paul’s letter to Timothy as the basis to justify taking the mark of the beast. I know God expects me to provide for my family. If the only way (or easiest way) is to compromise with Babylon, maybe compromise is not so bad. And when the compromise brings prosperity, we, like Laodicea, might readily take that prosperity as the sign of God’s blessing and approval. But Jesus did not approve of Laodicea. He called her to repent.

Let us Take a Fearlessly Thorough and Brutally Honest INventory of Ourselves

This post is already long enough. It would likely take an entire book to work through all the possible scenarios regarding income, wealth, poverty, employment, business, generosity, hospitality, etc. that could be discussed in relation to Revelation 18:3.

We each need to take a fearlessly thorough and brutally honest inventory of our own means of making money, conducting business, collecting wealth, and serving others. No doubt, we can think of some easy issues. If we make money selling drugs on the street, we are, no doubt, taking on the mark of the beast. But I am certain the issue is not always so glaringly obvious. If we run a business that doesn’t give fair and living wages to our employees while padding our pockets with luxury, I think James 5:1-6 says we have taken the mark of the beast. If we have to lie, fudge facts, go along with sin in order to make our income, we have likely taken on the mark of the beast. If we earn our living by taking advantage of people in difficult situations, even if we can legally dot every I and cross every T, I imagine we have taken on the mark of the beast. If we conduct every aspect of business and work with absolute integrity, but we hoard our income for ourselves without serving and sharing with others, we have likely taken on the mark of the beast.

This list could go on. I hope this is enough to be getting on with. Let us be fearless and thorough in our own personal inventory. Let us avoid the immorality of idolatry, but also the covetousness of compromise with the beast.

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 18.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 18 prompt or improve your praise of God?

Revelation 17: The Conquering Lamb

Today’s reading is Revelation 17.

Conquering and to Conquer

When the Lamb broke the first seal on the scroll back in Revelation 6:1-2, a rider on a white horse went out conquering and to conquer. He was given a victor’s wreath and a bow.

We had actually already been told who the conqueror was back in Revelation 5:5: “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (ESV). The new David, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lion was the conqueror.

Of course, when John turned to see the Lion, he “saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6, ESV). The Lion is the Lamb is the rider on the white horse is the conqueror.

But, of course, sometimes it doesn’t look like He’s conquering.

The Lamb Always Wins

For an hour, it looked like the beast was going to win. Ten kings sided with him. They reigned and had authority. But only for an hour.

They make war on the Lamb. Even just making war on the Lamb doesn’t seem like it should happen. The fact they can make war at all seems like the Lamb isn’t conquering. But before we can get too worked up about it, John tells us:

…and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful (Revelation 17:14, ESV).

A Kingdom Divided Against Itself

The Lamb will win because that is what the Lamb does. He went out conquering and to conquer. We are not surprised when He conquers. However, we find an interesting statement in Revelation 17:16: “The ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire” (ESV).

I’ve read some authors declare this can’t be about Rome because this didn’t happen to Rome. First, let’s not forget this is a vision. The point is not to tell us with one-to-one correspondence of some historical or future event.

The point is to demonstrate how unstable it is to enlist in the army of the beast and the prostitute. If we decide to compromise with the beast and the prostitute, don’t be surprised when we get burned up by the beast and the prostitute.

Perhaps the great point to remember here is Jesus’s teaching on divided kingdoms. In Mark 3:24-26, Jesus explains a kingdom divided against itself will fall. If Satan rises up against Satan, “he cannot stand, but is coming to an end” (ESV). That is precisely the point in Revelation 17:15-18. Satan has risen up against Satan and is coming to an end.

The Lamb wins because that is what the Lamb does. He wins because He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He also wins because His enemy by its very selfish, self-indulgent, self-promoting nature cannot stay united. That kingdom is divided against itself and the Lamb will conquer it with His host of called, chosen, and faithful saints. Let’s be part of that host.

Praise the Lord!

Next week’s reading is Revelation 18.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What do you want to share with others from Revelation 17?

Revelation 17: The Woman Sitting on Seven Hills

Two Opinions, Two Options

Who is “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations”? Who is this woman sitting on a seven-headed monster? Who is this woman sitting on seven hills?

For futurists, the answer could be any number of things. For those who believe John was writing about events his original audience was facing, we have basically two options: Jerusalem or Rome.

The great news is whichever of those options is actually correct for the original audience, the application for us today is pretty much the same. We must not compromise with an enemy state or false religion. We must stay away from idolatry. We must love God and our neighbors. We must faithfully serve God no matter what anyone does to persecute us.

The Jerusalem Case

Entire books have been written to make this case. The most well known is likely The Avenging of the Apostles and Prophets by my family friend Art Ogden. He makes a strong case. I can’t repeat his entire book in this post.

The strongest argument, to me, is that “the great city” gets described in Revelation 11:8: “…and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified” (ESV). Our Lord was crucified in Jerusalem. It makes sense to hear “the woman that you saw is the great city” in Revelation 17:18 as the same city.

The woman is “drunk with the blood of the saints, and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Revelation 17:6, ESV). First, the blood of the martyrs or witnesses immediately makes us think of the two witnesses who were killed in the visionary Jerusalem as the last paragraph revealed. Further, in Matthew 23:29-39, Jesus makes an impassioned plea against Jerusalem for martyring the prophets, wise men, and scribes God had sent and Jesus will send. The blood of these martyrs will be required of Jerusalem.

In this view, while the seven-headed, seven-hilled, seven-kinged beast is Rome, the woman sitting on Rome is actually the city of Jerusalem. I even like the great message this gives us today which fits in with the warning from the seven oracles. If God’s chosen city, Jerusalem, where He had made His name to dwell could become so faithless as to be judged, we the New Jerusalem, the Heavenly Jerusalem must take care. We must be sure to hold fast to Jesus and repent where we have fallen from Him lest we be judged.

I’ve not done justice to this argument. I’ve given you only two supports when, no doubt, many others could be mounted. I look forward to hearing from others who would like to add to these arguments in the comments.

The Case for Rome

No doubt, those who make a case for Rome will mount many arguments. However, for me one argument makes the case. The rest will be mere support to this one.

John was writing in the latter half of the first century. Whether at an early date in the 60s or a later date in the 90s, the Roman Imperial power held sway. It especially held power in the seven cities among which the seven churches of Asia met and assembled. While there were, no doubt, synagogues and struggles for the Christians from the Jews, the Imperial Cult and pagan idolatry were the oppressive realities of the daily life of those Christians. While synagogues may have existed in those cities, it was the Imperial and pagan cults that weighed heavily on their lives. It was the Greco-Roman idols, festivals, temples, sacrifices, guilds that hindered the Christians from being able to make a living while staying true to Jesus.

Behind all of this was the great city that held dominion over the kings of the earth: Rome. Rome had dominion over the seven cities, not Jerusalem. The Emperor held sway in the seven cities, not the high priest.

But the great argument running behind all of this was the the ever present story of Roma, the patron goddess of the city of Rome. The goddess who supposedly nurtured Romulus and Remus, providentially protecting and developing Rome. Rome and Roma were the benevolent hands caring for all the cities of the earth.

If someone today wrote an apocalyptic story about a nation symbolized by a red, white, and blue bald eagle, constantly bringing in pictures with stars and stripes, no one in the world today would have a difficult time knowing precisely who that story was about. When we see a political cartoon with elephants and donkeys today, we all know who is being represented. In like manner, the picture of a woman sitting on seven hills was a stock symbol in the first century. That woman was Roma Aeterna, goddess of Rome.

In fact, we have even found coins from around the time of the apocalypse with a picture of a woman sitting on seven hills. Everyone knew who that was. She was Roma.

The above picture was found at https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=184449 (accessed on July 1, 2024). A clearer image can be seen by clicking this link: Roma Aeterna coin. This coin was minted in the reign of Vespasian.

The entire Roman Empire and all its occupied peoples were told the story of Roma, the goddess of the imperial city. She was the noble, virtuous, warrior goddess whose benevolence and protection made the empire and every city protected by Rome what it was. Smyrna had the earliest known cult to Roma as far back as 195 BC. In 133 BC, the Pergamene ruler handed Pergamum over to Rome and the Roma cult spread rapidly.

But the apocalypse tells a different story. Rather than a noble, virtuous warrior, John reveals Roma as a murderous, vicious, blood-drinking harlot. In the end, the kings she lured by her sensual wiles and poisonous wine would turn against her in a civil war.

Interestingly, one of the common misconceptions today is John wrote the apocalypse in signs and symbols to hide his meaning from all but the initiated in order to be protected from further persecution. The fact is if John was actually writing about Jerusalem, he chose a charged image that all of his readers would have first thought referred to the goddess Roma. If he really was talking about Jerusalem, his imagery would actually cause so much more heartache, suffering, and tribulation that could have been avoided if he had just clearly stated he was talking about Jerusalem. By describing this city as a woman on seven hills, maybe his initiated Christians would know he was talking about Jerusalem, but any of their neighbors in the Asian cities who happened upon a copy of this book or visited on the day it was read in the assembly would assume John was talking about Roma.

Why cause this kind of turmoil for himself and for the churches where this would be read? Because he wasn’t actually trying to hide anything. He wasn’t trying to be subtle. He was actually being a stellar example of the point of this book. He was boldly standing out as following King Jesus as a citizen of His heavenly city, the New Jerusalem without compromise.

And whether the woman initially represents Jerusalem or Rome, ultimately she represents any political structure and government that opposes Jesus and His church. We need to follow John’s example and boldly stand out as followers of King Jesus, not try to blend end with the culture that surrounds us.

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 17.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 17 prompt or improve your trust in God?