DAY 824 - Don't Be Deceived by The Whore (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

                         Today's Reading: Revelation 17:1-8

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Please click this link to read Revelation 17:1-8

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation 17&version=ESV

Chinese: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=启 示 录 17&version=CUV

Bible Study

     Here comes to a very difficult passage about Babylon the whore. What is it about? Anything concerning with us? What you need to know is that everything here in this passage concern with you. Why? 

Let's take a look at what Bishop N.T. Wright says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright ) :

    

      Everything John now says by way of metaphor - because 'Babylon the whore' is a metaphor, as we shall see - depends on his perception, rooted in his Jewish and Christian belief in the goodness and God-givenness of the create order, that men and women are called either to celibacy or to married fidelity, and that this is one of the central motifs within the creator's purposes for his whole world.  That is why, of course, the final great image in the book is the marriage of the lamb and his bride in the garden city, echoing but far transcending the union of Adam and Eve in the original garden.  The rich whore who's in it of her own volition can dress up fine, can put on a great show, and can hold out a wonderful golden goblet as though she's inviting you to a rich banquet.  But the eye of faith, not merely of cynicism, recognizes that the goblet is full of urine, dung and blood…The phrase 'abominations and the impurities of her fornications' (verse 4) doesn't quite catch, for most of us, the full force of what John is saying.  His point is that the outward appearance of the whore is magnificent, but the inner reality is disgusting, stomach-churning filth…
     Here, says the great empire, is luxury beyond your wildest dreams!  Here all your fantasies can be fulfilled!…Oh, yes, of course, there's a price, but you won't mind paying that, will you?  And the rulers of the world, captains, merchant bankers…distinguished civil servants, chairmen of many committees  industrial lords and petty contractors, queue up eagerly, not knowing that they are all going into the dark.  By the time the folly is exposed for what it is, it is too late.  Once you take the golden cup offered by Babylon, you have to drink it…
     Hence Babylon the whore is drunk with the blood of God's people.  Witness to Jesus, and Babylon knows what to do.  The whore can turn violent when necessary. 

N.T. Wright. Revelation for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.150-153.

      Do you understand now what John wants to tell you about? Do you know we are in the midst of the deceiving act of this whore in this dark modern world? 

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

Spiritual Journal

    The title I heard from Jesus today is: Don't be deceived by the whore

    What I receive today is a message full of discomfort and ugliness. The fact is, we are all in the blink of being deceived by this whore. 

    John is talking about our relationship with Jesus. Living in a worldly lifestyle that pull us away from the good and pure relationship with us and Jesus is just like what a whore is doing to the relationship of a couple. What I have received from Jesus today are reminding us of three situations:
1. Sexual relationship beyond marriage - The past few years I have heard more and more about this. Lots of time I just can't believe that. The respond of so many people including me is like this, "What? Are you sure? How can that happen? I thought he is a faithful disciple of Christ and a faithful husband?" "I thought she is a good wife and a wonderful Christian. How can that happen?" Sooner or later, those persons suffered a lot from "the impurities of their fornications". It is really so dirty and terrible!

2. Lifestyle of Babylon - This is a very sensitive area. Why? Because it is very difficult to judge whether someone is living in a lifestyle of Babylon. We can only be very cautious about our own lifestyle whether it has turned to become a kind of luxury beyond what we as Christians should live. Excessive luxurious lifestyle is what this world is teaching us and leading us to live in . Simplicity is what Jesus wants to teach us and lead us to live in. Talking is easy, living a simple lifestyle is another matter. I do think that the closer relationship with Jesus can lead us to have a better chance to be put under the daily X-ray system of the Holy Spirit. Yes, that's the work of the Holy Spirit according to Jesus as in John 16:8 ,"When the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world of built in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment." 

3. The whore will drink the blood of God's people - Just as Bishop N.T. Wright says, "The whore can turn violent when necessary." That is what is happening in Northern Iraq and in many places in middle East and Africa as it has been happening since John's time of the brutality of the empire of Rome.

    So, don't be deceived by the whore. This whore will surely destroy your marriage, your career, your life and more. Jesus is Lord! Don't let Babylon to lord over you! 

Dear Lord Jesus,

Lead us to be in your lordship that we will never be deceived by Babylon the whore. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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