"Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;
The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:
Because of the multitude of the ---whoredoms of the ---wellfavoured harlot, the --mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through --her whoredoms, and families through --her witchcrafts.
Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?"
- Nahum 3:1-7(KJV)
"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, 'Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 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.'
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
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.
And the angel said unto me, 'Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. '" Revelation 17:1-7
NAHUM VI
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We trust that the juxtaposition of our chosen two texts this week should serve as an adequate introduction to our topic today.... civilizations/empires and the world system.
The two women in them seem to be from the same general geographical area... Nineveh, and Babylon ... however ... Babylon is better understood as a NAME for something that affected Nineveh and the whole world... a concept represented as being dominant over (riding) the ----political---- system of the earth.
The Word (as always) gives us the CLEAR, LITERAL explanation for the Revelation text for the mind which has wisdom.... :
" The seven heads are seven mountains [ geo or political or both ], on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings [ political ] : five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. [ referring to a temporary creation, a little horn, arising out of the 7 ]
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings [ political ] , which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive ---power as kings--- [political] one hour with the beast.
These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 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 that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
And the ten horns [ kings ] which thou sawest 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. 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. [[ HUH??? ]]
And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. [ ILLUMINATI validation here.... !! ? ] " --- Revelation 17:9-18
Well, some things got clearer, and some water just may have been muddied further, lets see if we can sort them out...
a. CLEAR -- We can agree that what is being described is a spirit/philosophy that dominates the globe, transcending borders, in BOTH texts.
b. CLEAR -- Military superiority, is leveraged to gain commercial and political power. THAT is why we have wars, and whips, and spears, and chariots, and corpses and wounded. THAT, and religion....which is also ...
c. CLEAR -- This system brooks no opposition from any other philosophy, specifically Christianity or those that know the true God. She is drunk with the blood of Gods children and martyrs them!
d. MUDDY -- The ten kings that were dominated by her to the point of fighting the Lamb on her behalf (and giving their kingdoms to the beast in united service -- remember the old Assyrian formula we talked about ? "though they be many and not few...") ... ---- TURN AROUND and go after HER, once they are defeated by the LAMB! Interesting isn't it.... ?
"Hell hath no fury greater than a woman scorned" is a popular expression, but this fury is nothing compared to the anger these kings have, once they figure out how badly they have been DUPED!!! ?
The book of Nahum is like the book of Revelation for the OT... you can see the shadows cast from so far back in the past, right from the beginnings of civilization. Reading through Chapter 3, we find other kings mentioned, that have signed up for the same philosophy as Nineveh... Egypt/Thebes (Called No-Amon).
" Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim [[ Persia and Libya ]] were thy helpers. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. " - Nahum 3:8-10
People have wondered, why is a God of peace writing about war and revenge? Because that is the only language the wicked understand!!
People will NOT listen to sound doctrine, they WILL persist in selfish and destructive behavior to the detriment of themselves and those around them, they WILL poison the planet and its resources, and chase after things which are impermanent, like money and power.
All the misery and pain and suffering on this planet!!
In today's worldview .... God is damned if He does, and damned if He doesn't.
--- He shouldn't interfere in our affairs, but since He is responsible for everything, He should wave a magic wand to fix everything!
---- We should be free to do whatever we want, but we want Him to manage the effects of bad people disobeying His Laws, and by the way, we dont want him to punish us at all!
-- We want free will and choice, but we are not willing to shoulder accountability for our own actions, including accepting the consequences for them! Pollution, wars, famines, climate, environmental destruction? Man is responsible!!!
God has left mankind to its devices for millennia, and NOTHING has changed...!
He has given us the Law, the Words of Christ, and sent His Spirit into the world to testify of the truth. We spat in His face, crowned Him with thorns, and crucified Him, to try and take His empire by force...
" But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. ' When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
They say unto him,' He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. ' - " - Mat 21:37-41
THAT is what is happening. Gods justice is coming for the High Priests in Israel, for the leaders of the Church, for the political and religious rulers of the world, and for the spiritual powers that have held sway for them.
But don't worry....
Even millennia ago, a man called Job was inspired to say for all of us,
" For ---I--- ---know--- that --my redeemer--- ---liveth---, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: " - Job 19:24
We (Personally and Individually), must KNOW, that we have a REDEEMER, and that this redeemer LIVES, and is coming again! This is a truth you MUST appropriate for yourself, and do all the due diligence to make sure you KNOW its DIRECT PERSONAL APPLICATION TO ---YOUR---- LIFE!!
That is the consistent message throughout all the (so-called) corrupted, twisted, translated, bent, broken, patchwork of texts, that atheists sneer at. Believing God exists, and that He has a right to revenge, is not stupid. Not being honest enough to find out for yourself, instead of being DUPED like the kings of the earth, IS!!!!
Hallelujah!