Revelation 17:1-18

The Punishment of the Great Prostitute
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But, Jesus knows that a few sincere and honest hearted people remain in Babylon and He knows that some of them would repent of their rebellion if only they could better understand the differences between the ways of God and the ways of Lucifer.

 

So, Jesus releases the devil upon the world in the fifth trumpet. When people behold the actions of the devil with their own eyes, this will cause a few hardheaded people to stop and think and ultimately, choose Jesus as Lord and Master!

 

The devil with millions of his angels will come down to Earth from the clouds. The wicked will think the Second Coming has taken place! The devil will arrive with two objectives in mind:

 

First, he intends to take full control of Earth.

 

Second, he intends to destroy the people of God in the process. In order to accomplish these objectives, the devil will initiate a great campaign of deception.

The devil will claim to be Almighty God. To back up his lie, he will perform amazing counterfeit signs and miracles! These displays of supernatural power will dazzle and astonish the inhabitants of Earth. Many will say of this glorious being, “Who else can do these miraculous things but Almighty God?”

 

To gain control of Earth in a mere five months, the devil will (a) flatter the leaders of Babylon and (b) he will gain the affection of billions as “the Savior of the world” through wonderful signs and miracles.

 

Consider his clever strategy:

The devil will flatter the leaders of Babylon by endorsing and supporting their ongoing efforts to enforce “sin-less” laws. The devil will praise and reward the religious and political leaders of Babylon for persecuting those who refused to obey “good laws” and “live right.”

 

The leaders of Babylon will be pleased with themselves, thinking that God Himself has commended them for their bold efforts to appease Him through legislative force.

 

At the same time, the devil will be working huge crowds of people all over the world. For five months, the devil will razzle-dazzle suffering people with counterfeit signs and wonders to win their confidence.

 

The devil will appear to heal the sick and raise the dead, he will at various times, call fire down out of the sky to prove his assumed divinity. But, many non-religious people will not step over the line and worship the devil.

 

The devil will demand that rebellion against Babylon cannot go unpunished. So, the devil will “justifiably” torture the non-religious with pain that hurts like the sting of a scorpion. 

 

(Note: the devil will not harm his own followers and he is not allowed to harm those having the seal of God – this includes the 144,000 and those who have also received the seal of God. So, the only people the devil can harm are non-religious people. This process forces all non-religious people to become religious. Some will choose Jesus many will follow Lucifer. The idea here is that Lucifer eliminates who are straddling the fence in terms of worship. Everyone is forced to take a side.)

 

Profound statement: At the end of the five-month allotted to the fifth trumpet, the devil will abruptly change character and course. Overnight, the devil will change from a charming God,” to “a stern-faced king.”

 

He will reveal himself to be the tyrant that he really is. He will suddenly overthrow the religious leadership of Babylon. He will dissolve the constitution of Babylon and evict the leaders of Babylon from their posts.

 

Even the pope will be dethroned as a leader of Babylon! Even worse, the pope will no longer be the head of a church because the Catholic Church and all other religious systems will be dissolved!

 

The devil will declare the establishment of a new world order based on global unity. Instead of seven religious systems telling the 220 nations of the world how God must be appeased, the devil will insist that Babylon become a unified government with one lord, one faith and one baptism.

 

If you think this through, this transition is easy to understand because “God” presence on Earth changes everything. Think about this: When God Himself dwells among men, there is no room for religious or political diversity. This sudden transformation of Babylon is described in Revelation 13:14.

 

“Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth [for five month. Then,] He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.”

 

What is the image that Lucifer sets up? The image will be a theocratic government. A theocratic government is a government where God Himself rules as King of kings and Lord of lords. For four hundred years, Israel had a theocratic government, but they eventually rejected God as their King.

 

1 Samuel 8:5   They [the elders of Israel] said to him [Samuel], “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”

 

1 Samuel 8:6   But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord.

 

1 Samuel 8:7   And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”

 

The point here is that Israel had a theocratic government at one time, but they eventually rejected God as their king. However, Lucifer has deceived mush of the world into thinking that he is God; he will order the establishment of a theocratic government.

 

This government is called “an image” because it will be a replica in some ways to the seven heads. Instead of seven religions, there will be one. Instead of 220 kings, queens and presidents ruling over the nations of Earth, the devil will divide the world into ten sectors and appoint ten kings to rule over the world.

 

We will see later on in today’s study that the “image to the beast” and “the great prostitute” in Revelation 17 is the same thing.

 

When the devil changes from “Charming God” to “Demonic Dictator,” there will be a great deal of consternation throughout the Earth, but mankind will not be able to thwart the devil’s authority, goals and objectives.

 

A one-world church/state will be set up and I hope you can see that a theocratic government becomes a theological necessity when Lucifer declares himself to be “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

 

Babylon’s transition from a composite government (diverse religions and governments) to a theocratic government (a unified church/state government) is described in Revelation 13.

 

Revelation 13:14   Because of the signs he [the lamb-like beast], was given power to do on behalf of the first beast [the composite beast], he deceived the inhabitants of the earth.

 

He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

 

Revelation 13:15   He [the lamb-like beast] was given power [from God*] to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak [make laws] and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.”

 

Remember, 2 Thessalonians 2:11   says that God sends Lucifer as a delusion because they [the wicked] refused to love the truth and be saved.  God empowers the devil to set up a theocratic government so that the devil can eliminate the religious diversity that keeps some people from accepting the testimony of the 144,000.

 

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