Read Revelation 17:12-15 along with Revelation 16:14-16. What do you learn from the texts about the “ten kings”? Different interpretations have been offered regarding the identities of the ten kings. However, Revelation does not tell us who they are. All we can derive from the text is that they are a short-lived political confederacy appearing right before the … Continue reading –>
Read Revelation 17:9-11 along with Revelation 13:18. The requirement for understanding the seven heads is a mind of wisdom. What kind of wisdom is in view here? How does one obtain this divinely imparted wisdom (James 1:5)? The angel explains that the seven heads are seven mountains. Some translators think that these mountains allude to the seven hills upon … Continue reading –>
Revelation 17:3 describes the scarlet beast in terms similar to the sea beast of Revelation chapter 13, which made war with, and overcame, God’s people (Rev. 13:5-7). It was this earlier period of persecution that caused the pure woman to flee into the wilderness during the prophetic period of 1,260 days/years, from A.D. 538-1798 (Rev. 12:13-14). … Continue reading –>
Read Revelation 17:3. One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues offers to show John the judgment of the harlot who sat on many waters. When John sees her, she is riding the scarlet beast. In what ways do the symbols of water and beast suitably describe the … Continue reading –>
Read Revelation 17:1. Jeremiah 51:13 shows that the “many waters” upon which Babylon sits are the river Euphrates. According to Revelation 17:15, what do many waters symbolize? A woman in the Bible is a symbol for God’s people. In Revelation, God’s true church is portrayed as a pure woman (Rev. 12:1, Rev. 22:17). A harlot thus represents a false apostate church. … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: Revelation 17; Jer. 51:13; Exod. 28:36-38; Rev. 13:1-8; Rev. 13:18; Rev. 16:2-12. Memory Text: “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities’” (Revelation 18:4-5, NKJV). The … Continue reading –>
By Andrew McChesney The 26-year-old missionary gazed at the group of 50 Zimbabwean police officers. The uniformed men and women had just participated in a colorful parade in downtown Bulawayo, and they were waiting for him to speak. Emmanuel Msimanga – a Global Mission pioneer assigned to the central business district of Zimbabwe’s second-largest city … Continue reading –>
Further Thought: “None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict. To every soul will come the searching test: Shall I obey God rather than men? … The apostle Paul declared, looking down to the last days: ‘The time will come when they will … Continue reading –>
Read Revelation 16:16. How successful will Satan’s end-time deception be in gathering the people of the world to the battle of Armageddon? The deceptive demonic miracles will achieve worldwide success. In having spurned Bible teachings, people will believe a lie that will be accompanied by deceptive miracles (2 Thess. 2:9-12). They will unite together in purpose, symbolized … Continue reading –>
Revelation 16:12 tells us that the purpose of the drying up of the Euphrates is to prepare the way for “the kings from the east” (NKJV). In the Old Testament, “the kings from the east” were Cyrus and his forces coming from the north, then approaching Babylon from the east (Isa. 41:25). Their conquest of Babylon made … Continue reading –>
