Revelation
18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and
of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
In trying to understand this, I
remembered the following:
Matthew 23:35 That upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of
righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of
Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the
altar.
How did
all that blood, going back to Cain killing Abel, come
upon the Jewish nation of the Pharisees & Sadducees?
Both the Northern
& Southern kingdoms had gone a whoring from the
LORD, and had rejected the blood covenant of redemption
given to them, above all the peoples of the earth. The
Southern kingdom had come back from captivity. Since
they turned their backs on the blood of the old
covenant, then it was blood put back on them. They had
forgotten the tenth plague, where the blood of the lamb
protected their firstborn, now instead of blood covering
& blood protection, they had blood guiltiness.
So, then
when the new testament woman goes a whoring from Jesus
Christ, they reject the blood of the new covenant, and
the result of:
Hebrews
10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall
he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the
Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the
covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy
thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Is again
blood guiltiness, coming upon the generation of
judgment:
Revelation
18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and
of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
People
show what they think of the book of Revelation by what
they call it. I hear more people call the book,
"revelations", rather than, "Revelation". They think
of it as a collection of secrets about the future, as
if it was like a collection of Nostradamus prophecies
or Chinese fortune cookies. However, it is the
Revelation of Jesus Christ, it's all about him!! Like
what is said in Hebrews 10:7 "Then said I,
Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of
me,)
The
way to understand everything in the book of Revelation
is in context of how it relates to Jesus Christ, good
or bad. To borrow an expression from Dickens, therein
is a tale of two cities, as well as a tale of two
women. One is earthly, while the other is heavenly -
one has a bright & everlasting future, while the
other has a terrible end - one is related to the
mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, the
Word, while the other is related to the mystery of
iniquity, the Wicked - one woman goes a whoring from
him, breaking his heart, like OT Israel did, while the
other woman blesses his heart, like prophetically
shown in the Song of Solomon, and marries him - the
one city is for the bride, the church, the mystery hid
from the foundation of the world, revealed in the new
testament, while the other city is also a mystery, hid
until John wrote about it, "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT".
Again,
everything about this woman needs to be understood in
the context of Jesus Christ, it's all about him. So,
this woman's whoredoms are against Jesus Christ - and
like Israel in the old testament, who also went a
whoring from the LORD, she had been great, mighty, and
wealthy because of the LORD, but she went after her
lovers instead of him - so likewise, this woman must
needs have been made great, mighty, and wealthy by
Jesus Christ, because she originally was his. Then she
ends up as a fallen woman, and the city/nation ends up
fallen, fallen - both spiritually/morally as well as
physically/politically/economically/militarily. Who
else could it be?
Also,
all other nations in history were made wealthy by the
others, but it says about her that the others were
made wealthy by her. Who else could it be?
Who else started as a city on a
hill, a Christian nation, a light to the nations. Who
else was started by the church, the surviving remnant,
that escaped the fires of martyrdom in Europe, to come
to a new land? Who else began like that, but then
became the greatest exporter of pornography, sodomy,
drug money - who actually held & killed so many
slaves, even after so many of them had become their
brothers in the Lord, after they were saved? Who after
a horrible Civil War, that set the slaves free, yet
after a full 100 years refused to repent, by keeping
Jim Crowe Laws? Who else had such a great revival
leading to so many 2nd births in her, and who also had
such an open door for so many missionaries, where
countless millions around the world came to the 2nd
birth - but then turned to murder over 60 million
innocents in their mothers' wombs, to prevent even
their 1st births?
Who
else could this woman and this city be?
Gino