End Time Insights

In the third chapter of  Revelation , Jesus promises to “ keep ” overcoming saints in the city of Philadelphia “ from the hour of trial ” that is coming upon the “ whole habitable the earth .” A comparison with similar passages demonstrates that this ominous “ hour ” is nothing less than the time of judgment and condemnation for all those whose names “ are not written in the Lamb’s book of life ” when they will experience the “ second death ” in the “ Lake of Fire .”

John saw a vision of a female figure identified as “ Babylon, the Great Harlot .” She was carried by the “ Beast with Ten Horns and Seven Heads .” She deceived the “ Kings of the Earth ” along with its “ Inhabitants ” with her “ fornications ,” and she was “ drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus .” She was (and remains) the “ Mother of the Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth .” Her powers of seduction were so great that even John found himself momentarily “ marveling ” after her.

End-Time “ Babylon ” sits on the same beastly entity that John saw “ ascending from the Sea ” in Chapter 13, but it combines the four “ Beasts ” of  Daniel  into one final malignant creature bent on destroying the saints. In Chapter 17, its “lineage” and inevitable destruction are described with language from Daniel’s vision of the “ Little Horn ” and the “ Fourth Beast .”

Babylon is revealed as a bejeweled harlot dripping with the shed blood of martyred saints  –  Revelation 17:1-6 .  In chapter 17,  Revelation  presents the impressive figure of “ Babylon .” She is labeled “ harlot ” and identified as the “ great city ,” and she is responsible for the deaths of the martyrs. “ Babylon ” is also closely associated with the deceptions and economic power of the “ Beast .” In her, the book’s first audience would see the city of Rome.

In his letter to the “ messenger ” of Laodicea, the Risen “ Son of Man ” is called the “ Beginning of the Creation of God .” In his death and resurrection, he inaugurated the New Creation. In the same sentence, and in the present tense, he also is called the “ Amen, the faithful and true witness ,” appellations applied to him previously in the Book’s prologue.

OVERVIEW  -  If a man is not justified from the works of the Law, what was the purpose of the Torah given through Moses at Mount Sinai?  –  Galatians 3:19 .  In his  Letter to the Galatians , the Apostle Paul declared that we are set right with God from the “ faith of Jesus Christ ,” and not “ from the works of the Law .” But if keeping the “ works of the Law ” does not justify us before God, logically, this raises the question:  Why, then, the Law? What was the purpose of the  Torah ? Paul answered this question in the third chapter of his letter.