Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 485
16:15–17:8
R e v elati o n
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rulers of the world to gather them for battle against the Lord on that great
judgment day of God the Almighty.
“Look, I will come as unexpectedly as a thief! Blessed are all who are
watching for me, who keep their clothing ready so they will not have
to walk around naked and ashamed.”
And the demonic spirits gathered all the rulers and their armies to a
place with the Hebrew name Armageddon.
Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a mighty
shout came from the throne in the Temple, saying, “It is finished!” Then
the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed. And a great earthquake struck—the worst since people were placed on the earth. The great
city of Babylon split into three sections, and the cities of many nations fell
into heaps of rubble. So God remembered all of Babylon’s sins, and he
made her drink the cup that was filled with the wine of his fierce wrath.
And every island disappeared, and all the mountains were leveled. There
was a terrible hailstorm, and hailstones weighing as much as seventy-five
pounds fell from the sky onto the people below. They cursed God because
of the terrible plague of the hailstorm.
One of the seven angels who had poured out the seven bowls came over
and spoke to me. “Come with me,” he said, “and I will show you the judgment that is going to come on the great prostitute, who rules over many
waters. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her, and the
people who belong to this world have been made drunk by the wine of
her immorality.”
So the angel took me in the Spirit into the wilderness. There I saw a
woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, and
blasphemies against God were written all over it. The woman wore purple
and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems
and pearls. In her hand she held a gold goblet full of obscenities and the
impurities of her immorality. A mysterious name was written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the
World.” I could see that she was drunk—drunk with the blood of God’s
holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete
amazement.
“Why are you so amazed?” the angel asked. “I will tell you the mystery
of this woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns on which
she sits. The beast you saw was once alive but isn’t now. And yet he will
soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction. And