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Day 31 Revelation 17 Revelation 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they who dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast who was, and is not, and yet is. 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits. 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition. 12 And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they who are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. 15 And he said unto me, The waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which you saw upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which you saw is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth. Everyone wants justice for those who commit heinous crimes. They don’t want to see the person get away with the crime but get the maximum sentence. God’s judgments have ended and it’s time to sentence Antichrist, the dragon, for his actions since the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. One of the angels who had a vial for the last judgments came to John and told him he would show him God’s judgment on the woman responsible for the crimes. He begins by showing where the woman’s power resided. Her throne was in a city with seven mountains. There is only one city surrounded by seven mountains—Rome. God’s sentence starts with the city where she dwelt. He then moves to the kings who give their power to the beast. Those kings are ten empires which have come and gone, yet one will rise again to reign. Those kingdoms are seen in Daniel. Daniel 2:27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king; 28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and makes known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; 31 Thou, O king, saw, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. 32 This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 34 You saw till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. 35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. 36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. 39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things: and as iron that breaks all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. 41 And whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with miry clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. 43 And whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 Forasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. The kingdoms Daniel saw in the dream King Nebuchadnezzar had is the same spoken of here with the kings—kingdoms—which give power to the dragon for an hour. History records six powerful empires. Egyptian, Assyria and Nineveh, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greece or the Macedonian, and Rome. Daniel noted that the head of gold belonged to the Babylonian Empire. This is where Antichrist will rule during the Tribulation. Next was the Medo-Persian Empire under Cyrus. The Macedonian Empire under Alexander the Great followed. His kingdom was divided to his four generals on his death. This was followed by the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire would share power with ten nations. The Roman Empire was the last to fall. Rome is the wounded empire who will rise again to power. There is one empire not listed in any of the commentaries I studied. There is belief it might be Germanic, or Christian as Emperor Constantine was Christian, and he had power for a short time. If you follow world news, an attempt is being made for ten countries to align themselves. We won’t know the ten until the rise of the last empire which was wounded and will rise again, Rome. Why Rome? The woman is favored by kings and lay people alike. No one holds more power over the nations than the Pope. Is that to say the Pope is the Antichrist? Not yet, but all evidence shown points to Rome and the person who holds power over kings and nations. The ten kingdoms will make war with the Lamb, Armageddon, then the ten will rebel against Antichrist—these are the toes of iron and clay in Daniel’s prophecy that will break in pieces. The Lamb will defeat Satan and will rule the nations in peace. (More on that in the coming chapters.) When the Lamb defeats Antichrist, you see the faithful and chosen with Him. These are the saints, Christians who accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord before the Tribulation, and those who came out of the Tribulation. They will fight by Jesus’ side in the final war. When you know Jesus as Savior and Lord, you will rejoice with the angels of heaven when Jesus defeats Antichrist. Then you will know peace. Let’s pray: Father, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You know the end from the beginning. To You alone belong all glory, honor, and praise, for You were, You are, and You will be forever. There is no one like You. Let Your salvation come to the nations, and let Satan’s power diminish. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Copyright © 29 July 2019 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay